a  r/. 


<s 


Millionaires  of  a  Day. 


J3ook0  bn  ®licoborc  0.  ban  Dgke. 

"  That  prince  of  sportsmen,  T.  S.  Van  Dyke." — Sacra- 
mento  (Cal.)  Be*. 


SOUTHERN  CALIFORNIA. 

Its  Valleys,  Hills,  and  Streams;  Its  Animals,  Birds,  and 
Fishes ;  its  Gardens,  Farms,  and  Climate.  i2mo,  Ex. 
Clc,  beveled,  $1.50. 

"  May  be  commended  without  any  of  the  usual  reserva- 
tions."— Sa}z  Francisco  Chronicle. 


THE  STILL  HUNTER. 

A  Practical  Treatise  on  Deer-Stalking.  i2mo,  Ex.  Clo., 
beveled,  $2.cx>. 

"  The  best,  the  very  best  work  on  deer  \mnX.\ng."—SJ>irit 
of  the  Times  (N.  Y.) 

'■  Altogether  the  best  and  most  complete  American  book 
we  have  yet  seen  on  any  branch  of  field  sports." — New 
York  Eveni7ig  Post. 

RIFLE,  ROD  and  GUN  in  CALIFORNIA. 

A  Sporting  Romance,  combining  the  interest  of  a  novel 
with  authoritative  descriptions  of  the  hunting  and  fish- 
ing in  a  country  celebrated  among  sportsmen. 

"  Crisp  and  readable  throughout,  and  at  the  same  time, 
gives  a  full  and  truthful  technical  account  of  our  Southern 
California  game,  afoot,  afloat,  or  on  the  wing." — San  Fran- 
cisco Alta   California. 


FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT, 
NEW  YORK. 


Millionaires  of  a  Day: 


AN   INSIDE   HISTORY 

OF 

THE  GREAT  SOUTHERN  CALIFORNIA 
''  BOOM." 


BY 

T.   S.   VAN    DYKE, 

AUTHOR   OF   "tHH   RIFLE,    ROD   AND   GUN    IN   CALIFORNIA,"    "THE   STILL 
HUNTER,"    "  SOUTHERN    CALIFORNIA." 


NEW  YORK : 

FORDS,    HOWARD   &    HULBERT. 

1890. 


Copyright,  in  1890, 

BV 

Theodore  S.  Van  Dyke. 


PREFACE. 


"I  wouldn't  have  missed  it  for  all  I  have  lost. 
It  was  worth  living  a  lifetime  to  see." 

So  said  to  the  author  last  year  one  of  the  ex- 
millionaires.  And  in  truth  he  was  not  far  from 
right.  One  who  has  not,  as  an  actor,  been 
through  a  first-class  "  boom"  has  missed  one  of 
the  most  interesting  points  of  view  of  human 
nature. 

Now  that  we  have  had  plenty  of  time  to  look 
back  upon  the  great  boom  that  raged  so  long  in  the 
six  southern  counties  of  Southern  California  and 
gauge  its  immensity,  we  can  see  that  it  had  never 
its  like  on  earth.  There  have  indeed  been  times  of 
wilder  excitement,  when  property  has  changed 
hands  oftener  in  twenty-four  hours  and  brought 
perhaps  higher  prices,  but  they  were  limited"  to 
a  single  point  or  to  a  brief  period,  and  nearly  al- 
ways to  both.  But  this  boom  (for  convenience 
we  will  drop  the  quotation-marks  hereafter)  lasted 


2  PREFACE. 

nearly  two  years,  embraced  a  vast  area  of  both 
town  and  country,  and  involved  an  amount  of 
money  and  players  almost  incredible  to  even 
those  who  Avere  in  it. 

There  was  nothing  in  this  analogous  to  any 
South  Sea  Bubble,  or  oil  or  mining  stock  swindle, 
or  any  other  of  the  great  humbugs  of  the  past. 
The  actors  in  this  great  game  were  not  ignorant 
or  poor  people,  and  from  end  to  end  there  was 
scarcely  anything  in  it  that  could  fairly  be  called 
a  swindle.  What  few  misrepresentations  there 
w^ere,  were  mere  matters  of  opinion  such  as  no 
one  of  sense  ever  relies  on,  any  more  than  he  does 
on  the  assurance  that  he  will  double  his  money 
within  so  many  days.  With  a  very  few  excep- 
tions the  principal  victims  were  men  of  means. 
Most  of  them,  and  certainly  the  most  reckless  of 
them,  were  men  who  in  some  branch  of  business 
had  been  successful.  Very  many  of  them  were 
"self-made  men"  who  had  built  up  fortunes  by 
their  own  exertions,  and  were  supposed  to  know 
right  well  the  value  of  a  dollar,  and  to  have  some 
idea  of  the  value  of  property.  All  had  the  am- 
plest time  to  revise  their  judgments  and  investi- 
gate the  conditions  of  the  game.  The  country 
all    lay  open,  was  easily  and   quickly  traversed, 


PREFA  CE.  3 

and  the  advantages  or  disadvantages  of  any  point 
could  be  readily  seen.  Over  and  over  again  the 
shrewdest  of  them  did  revise  their  judgments,  de- 
bated with  themselves  the  question  whether  they 
were  fools  or  not,  and  the  more  they  debated  the 
more  they  were  convinced  that  they  were  under- 
estimating instead  of  overestimating  the  situation. 
And  some  of  the  silliest  of  the  lot  were  men  who, 
during  the  first  three  fourths  of  the  excitement, 
kept  carefully  out  of  it,  and  did  nothing  but 
sneer  at  the  folly  of  those  who  were  in  it. 

The  history  of  such  a  craze  seems  worth  writ- 
ing. Much  has,  of  course,  been  told  about  it  ; 
but  no  one,  unless  he  had  a  hand  in  it  and  could 
see  its  inside  working,  can  tell  of  it  in  its  most 
important  phases,  and  nothing  would  be  history 
that  did  not  follow  the  results  of  the  folly  to 
their  end. 

To  the  people  of  the  older  States  much  of  this 
will  seem  mere  burlesque,  and  they  will  toss  it 
aside  as  unworthy  of  belief.  But  the  Californian 
will  say  that  instead  of  being  an  exaggeration 
many  interesting  facts  have  been  suppressed, 
probably  because  the  writer  dare  not  tell  them. 
But  enough  has  been  told  to  interest  all  who 
were  in  it,  though  it  will  awaken  many  a  painful 


4  "  PREFACE. 

recollection,  and  enough  to  warn  any  one  who 
will  study  it  from  ever  gambling  on  a  margin  on 
any  prospects,  no  matter  how  good  a  judge  he 
may  think  himself  of  booms  and  conditions  of 
growth.  Of  course  no  warning  will  have  any  ef- 
fect upon  the  great  majority ;  but  one  thing  is 
certain — the  Californians  want  no  more  booms. 
A  steady  and  substantial  growth  they  do  want, 
are  having  now,  and  will  continue  to  have  if  East- 
ern boomers  do  not  again  set  them  crazy.  They 
want  nothing  that  will  again  check  true  develop- 
ment as  the  great  boom  did,  and  will  advise  all 
who  think  of  coming  to  California  to  read  this 
brief  sketch  of  the  greatest  piece  of  folly  that  any 
country  has  ever  seen. 
San  Diego,  Cal.,  September,  1890. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PAGE 

Southern  California  before  the  Boom,       ...      7 


CHAPTER    n. 
The  Changes  of  Ten  Years,  ....  21 


CHAPTER    HI. 
The  Beginning  of  the  Boom, -8 

CHAPTER    IV. 
The  Shearing  of  the  Lambs,         .        .        ,  56 

CHAPTER   V. 
The  Smile  of  the  Native,       ....  .     R? 

CHAPTER   VI. 
And  Again  the  Native  Smiles,      ...  .05 

CHAPTER   VII. 
High  Tide  of  the  Boom,         ......  105 


6  CONTEMrS. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

PAGE 

Getting  Out i8o 

CHAPTER    IX. 
The  Collapse, I45 

CHAPTER   X. 
The  Overloaded 154 

CHAPTER   XI. 
Turning  Over  a  New  Leaf, 168 

CHAPTER   XII. 
The  Falling  of  the  Roses, 177 

CHAPTER   XIII. 
The  Ex-Millionaire's  Opinion, 195 


Millionaires  of  a  Day. 


CHAPTER   I. 

SOUTHERN   CALIFORNIA   BEFORE   THE   BOOM. 

From  1870  to  1875  Southern  California  was 
passing  out  of  the  control  of  the  large  land-own- 
ers, nearly  all  of  whom  were  raising  cattle,  horses, 
and  sheep  to  the  exclusion  of  everything  else,  and 
into  the  control  of  the  general  farmer  and  fruit- 
grower. These  were  mainly  small  owners  of  what 
had  been  public  land.  Some  of  the  great  ranchos 
or  Mexican  grants,  which  embraced  the  greater 
part  of  what  was  then  considered  good  land,  had 
been  opened  by  the  owners  to  settlement.  But 
most  of  the  large  owners  were  unwilling  to  injure 
their  stock-range  by  admitting  scattering  farmers  ; 
so  that  the  great  majority  of  the  new  settlers 
were  upon  the  outlying  tracts  of  public  land 
around  the  edges  of  the  large  ranchos,  and  in  the 

7 


8  MirjJONAIRE^  OF  A    DAY. 

small  pockets  and  valleys  of  the  surrounding  hills. 
In  1875  their  number  was  considerable;  but  their 
work  was  a  combination  of  laziness,  imitation  of 
Mexican  methods,  and  general  shiftlessness,  the 
bad  effects  of  which  were  increased  by  ignorance 
of  the  peculiarities  of  California. 

Almost  every  attempt  of  this  class  to  make  a 
dollar  from  the  soil  was  thwarted  by  these  causes, 
and  in  most  cases  it  was  impossible  for  the 
"granger"  even  to  support  his  family  in  anything 
like  comfort.  Hundreds  lived  for  a  while  on  the 
little  money  they  had  brought  here,  then  on  credit 
until  it  swept  away  the  farm,  when  they  went  to 
a  new  piece  of  government  land  to  repeat  the 
same  folly.  Nevertheless  there  was  an  attraction 
about  the  soft  climate  of  winter  and  the  dry,  cool 
sea-breeze  of  summer,  in  the  long  line  of  sunny 
days  with  nights  made  for  soundest  sleep,  and  in 
the  absence  of  storms,  high  winds,  and  other  cli- 
matic discomforts,  that  made  people  stay,  how- 
ever unsuccessful,  and  steadily  brought  more  to 
stay  with  them.  It  was  a  grand  play-country, 
and  one  could  get  along  with  less  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  United  States  and  still  be  re- 
spectable and  fat.  But  everywhere  there  was  a 
broad  smile  when   some  enthusiastic  new-comer 


Before  the  boom.  g 

said  that  it  would  some  day  be  the  richest  part  of 
the  United  States  outside  the  great  cities. 

Descending  one  day  in  the  fall  of  1875  from  a 
hunt  among  the  foothills  of  one  of  the  great  moun- 
tain ranges  of  Southern  California,  my  companion 
and  I  came  into  a  little  valley  or  pocket  where 
one  of  the  long  slopes  of  a  great  valley  broke 
into  the  hills.  It  contained  some  sixty  acres  of 
dark  soil  along  the  bed  of  a  little  creek,  with  some 
reddish  land  sloping  toward  the  hill  on  one  side. 
The  bottom-land  looked  as  if  with  judicious  coax- 
ing it  might  be  induced  to  raise  a  bean  or  possibly 
a  cabbage;  but  nothing  could  seem  more  hope- 
less than  any  attempt  to  raise  anything  on  the 
land  that  sloped  toward  the  hills. 

The  most  conspicuous  thing  about  the  place  or 
"  ranche,"  as  all  such  places  were  then  called,  was 
a  group  of  some  two  hundred  bee-hives  set  upon 
low  stands  on  a  bit  of  rising  ground  at  the  base  of 
the  hill.  Around  some  of  them  a  few  bees  were 
lazily  crawling,  but  the  greater  number  of  hives 
were  silent.  Near  by  was  the  "honey  house," 
also  deserted,  except  where  a  few  bees  were 
exploring  the  key-hole  and  the  chinks  in  the 
sides,  lured  by  the  smell  of  honey  that  still  lin- 
gered within.     Near  by  a  pile  of  poles  half  hidden 


10  Millionaires  of  a  da  V. 

in  decayed  straw  betrayed  some  symptoms  of 
having  once  been  intended  for  a  stable,  A  little 
farther  on  we  came  to  the  "ranche  house."  It 
was  of  the  regulation  pattern  of  the  granger's 
house  of  that  time — a  mere  shell  of  rough  lumber 
mounted  upon  stilts,  full  in  the  sun,  with  its  only 
window  on  the  side  from  which  in  summer  the 
breeze  is  certain  never  to  come.  Under  a  huge 
live-oak  behind  the  house  hung  a  box  with  door 
and  back  of  wire  screen,  through  which  was  dimly 
visible  a  long  strip  of  desiccated  bacon-rind  with 
the  butt-ends  of  departed  slices  standing  along 
its  inner  surface,  yellow  and  gray  with  time — a 
melancholy  stub-book  of  past  prosperity.  All 
around  the  house  were  fragments  of  honey  boxes, 
masses  of  dead  bees  and  moth  cocoons,  broken 
glass,  empty  tin  cans,  rabbit-skins,  and  empty 
tobacco-sacks,  while  the  outside  of  the  house  was 
adorned  with  nails  full  hung  with  an  assortment 
of  almost  everything  from  a  plow-clevis  to  a 
weather-beaten  wildcat  skin. 

A  lank  dog  drew  himself  with  considerable 
effort  from  under  the  house  at  our  approach,  gave 
a  perfunctory  bark,  and  hastily  retreated  to  the 
shade  he  had  unwisely  left.  As  we  rounded  the 
corner  of  the  house   the  smind   of  dragging  feet 


BEFORE    THE  BOOM.  II 

Came  from  within,  then  a  stream  of  tobacco-juice 
cleared  the  soap-box  that  served  for  a  door-stoop, 
and  in  another  second  a  bushy  head,  ragged 
whiskers,  and  frowsy  mustache  came  slowly  into 
view  around  the  door-post. 

"  Morning,"  drawled  the  owner  of  the  head, 
propping  himself  with  care  against  the  door-post, 
and  smiling  as  in  my  friend  he  recognized  an  old 
acquaintance. 

"  Come  in,"  he  added,  as  he  shuffled  himself 
inside,  hooked  one  foot  within  one  of  the  legs  of 
a  three-legged  stool  and  gave  it  a  lazy  jerk  into 
the  middle  of  the  floor,  while  with  the  other  foot 
he  kicked  an  empty  nail-keg  toward  my  companion. 

"Take  a  seat,"  he  continued,  as,  with  a  mini- 
mum of  exertion  that  he  had  evidently  studied  out 
with  long  practice,  he  half  slid  and  half  tumbled 
upon  a  rough  cot  in  one  corner. 

The  solar  heat  of  the  autumn  day  upon  the 
thin  roof  was  increased  by  a  fire  in  an  open  fire- 
place, where  a  flap-jack  suitable  for  a  cannon-wad 
was  sputtering  in  a  frying-pan. 

"  We'll  have  some  dinner  directly,"  said  the 
owner  of  the  frying-pan  with  a  dubious  glance  at 
the  half  of  a  rabbit  that  lay  on  the  table  awaiting 
its  turn  in  the  frying-pan. 


12  MILLIOMAIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

"  Can't  stop,  thank  you,"  said  my  companion, 
who  had  taken  a  hasty  review  of  the  larder. 
"  How  are  the  bees  doing?" 

"  Fine !  I  ain't  lost  over  two  thirds  of  mine. 
Some  of  my  neighbors  have  lost  about  all  theirs. 
Last  winter  the  rain  was  too  light  and  the  feed 
short,  and  they  robbed  their  bees  too  close.  I 
didn't  have  to  rob  mine.  They  were  so  hungry 
they  robbed  each  other  and  saved  me  the  trouble," 
said  the  granger. 

"You  raise  good  fruit  here,  I  suppose?"  I  re- 
marked quite  innocently. 

,"The  blue-jays  and  linnets  think  so.     I  never 
had  a  chance  to  sample  any  of  it  myself." 

"  That  land  along  the  creek  looks  like  good 
garden-land,"  said  my  friend  ;  "  you  raise  good 
vegetables  there,  of  course." 

"  I've  laid  down  lots  of  them.  I  never  raised 
any  yet." 

"  But  you  certainly  raise  your  own  potatoes?" 

"  No ;  the  squirrels  raise  them  for  me." 

"  And  don't  you  have  any  garden  at  all  ?" 

"  Had  one,  one  year,  but  the  chickens  got  away 
with  it." 

"  I  don't  see  any  chickens  around  here  now." 


BEFORE    THE  BOOM.  13 

"  Of  course  not.  The  wild-cats  got  away  with 
them  by  the  time  they  had  finished  the  garden." 

"  Did  you  ever  try  the  raisin-grape  here  ?" 

"  Planted  some  once,  but  the  rabbits  eat  off  the 
buds  as  fast  as  they  came  out." 

"  Well,  you  get  even  on  the  rabbits,  don't  you  ?" 
said  my  friend  with  a  wink  at  me  that  showed 
that  he  was  drawing  out  the  man  for  amusement. 

"  The  rabbits  don't  owe  me  anything,"  replied 
the  man.  "  I  would  have  been  busted  long  ago 
without  them.  But  they  are  getting  so  scarce 
now,  that  I  have  to  go  three  or  four  hundred 
yards  from  the  house  to  get  one.  It's  a  cold  day 
when  I  have  to  split  a  rabbit  to  make  two  meals 
out  of.  The  outlook  for  grub  is  getting  really 
serious,"  he  added  wath  an  anxious  glance  at  the 
half  of  a  rabbit. 

"  And  didn't  any  of  the  vines  grow  at  all  ?" 
asked  my  friend. 

"  Well,  a  few  did,  but  the  deer  closed  them  out 
in  the  fall." 

"  And  can't  you  get  even  on  the  deer  ?  That's 
the  way  I  do." 

"  Too  much  resemblance  to  work,  tramping 
over  these  hills." 


14  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  V. 

"  But  wine-grapes  ought  to  do  well,  and  deer 
don't  bother  them  much." 

**  Quails  !"  replied  the  man  with  a  sigh. 

"  I  should  think  this  would  make  a  good  hog- 
ranche,"  continued  my  friend. 

"  Splendid.  I've  got  several  dozen  ;  they  don't 
require  any  care  here  at  all ;  I  haven't  had  to  look 
after  mine  for  three  years.  But  I  know  they  are 
safe  ;  a  grizzly  bear  couldn't  catch  them  in  the 
chapparal,  and  no  man  would  ever  try  it." 

"  Why  didn't  you  fence  them  in  ?"  I  asked. 

"  What !  and  buy  feed  for  'em  ?  Stranger,  if 
it's  a  fair  question,  ma)-  I  inquire  where  }^ou  were 
raised  ?" 

"You  ought  to  raise  good  corn  on  that  land 
over  there,"  said  my  friend. 

"  See  those  crows  sitting  in  the  sycamores  ? 
Tried  it  once.  They  are  waiting  for  me  to  try  it 
again.  I'm  waiting  for  them  to  die  of  disappoint- 
ment." 

"Why  don't  you  try  alfalfa?  Crows  don't  pull 
that  up." 

"  Had  just  that  brilliant  idea  myself  once.  It 
only  cost  me  a  hundred  dollars,  though  ;  that's  the 
cheapest  experience  I've  had  here." 

"  Why,  what  was  the  matter  ?" 


BEFORE    THE  BOOM.  1 5 

"Gophers,"  sighed  the  man. 

•"  Have  you  tried  grain  ?" 

"  Did  you  ever  strike  a  darned  fool  here  yet 
that  didn't?  I  put  in  forty  acres  once.  The 
header-man,  threshing-machine-man  and  the  ware- 
house-man in  town  all  did  well  on  it." 

"And  how  did  you  come  out?" 

"  Only  lost  some  three  hundred  dollars." 

"Why,  that  wasn't  so  bad,"  I  remarked. 

"  O  no  ;  it  might  have  been  a  heap  worse  ;  I  got 
out  cheap.  One  of  my  neighbors  lost  his  ranche 
by  his  crop." 

"  I  suppose  then  that  hay  or  something  you 
could  harvest  with  your  own  work  would  be  bet- 
ter," said  I,  as  soon  as  I  had  discovered  the  point 
of  the  last  answer. 

"That's  exactly  what  I  thought  ;  so  I  sowed  it 
with  barley  for  hay  the  next  year.  There  was 
hardly  any  rain,  and  I  had  to  pull  it  up  by  the 
roots  to  get  any  hay." 

"  Why  didn't  you  let  your  horse  harvest  it  him- 
self?" said  my  friend,  seeing  that  I  was  floored  by 
the  last  answer. 

"  Before  it  got  big  enough  I  had  to  give  him 
away  to  keep  from  buying  feed  for  him.  The 
gheepmen  used  up  all  the  grass  within  ten  miles." 


l6  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

"  How  long  have  you  been  here?" 

"  Something  Hke  six  thousand." 

"  I  asked  how  long  you  had  been  here." 

"  Well,  I  tell  you  some  six  thousand.  Don't 
you  know  yet  how  to  measure  time  in  this  coun- 
try?" 

"  O  yes,  I  take.  But  what  have  you  done  with 
it  all  ?" 

"  Well,  there's  nearly  five  hundred  dollars  of  it 
in  that  orchard,"  said  the  rancher,  pointing  to  a 
few  rows  of  dead  sticks  in  various  stages  of  decay. 

"  What  is  the  matter  with  them  ?" 

"  Cattle  broke  them  all  down  rubbing  against 
them.  You  may  notice  that  good  rubbing  posts 
are  scarce  in  this  country." 

"  Why  didn't  you  fence  them  in  ?" 

"  Did,  but  a  fire  came  up  the  canyon  one  day 
and  took  it." 

"  Your  oranges  don't  seem  very  thrifty,"  con- 
tinued my  friend,  pointing  to  some  sorrowful- 
looking  trees,  of  which  one  half  were  brown  and 
the  rest  a  yellowish  green. 

"  I  let  them  all  go  ;  it's  too  much  trouble  to 
manage  an  irritating  ditch." 

"  A  what  ?"  I  asked. 


BEFORE    THE   BOOM.  1 7 

"  He  means  an  irrigating  ditch,"  suggested  my 
companion. 

"  No,  I  mean  exactly  what  I  said,"  said  the 
granger — "  an  irritating  ditch — the  irritatingesl 
thing  on  earth.  When  you  get  ready  to  use  it 
you  iind  that  a  gopher  has  made  a  hole  in  the 
dam  and  let  out  all  the  water.  You  get  the  hole 
fixed  and  the  dam  filled  again,  and  then  you  find 
a  dozen  gopher  holes  in  the  ditch.  Each  one  of 
them  will  let  out  all  the  water,  and  you  can't  find 
the  worst  ones  until  you  have  turned  in  the  water. 
Then  by  the  time  you  get  the  ditch  fixed  another 
gopher  has  made  a  hole  in  the  dam,  and  when  you 
get  that  stopped  there  are  some  more  gopher 
holes  in  the  ditch.  By  the  time  you  have  it  fixed 
it's  dinner-time,  and  by  the  time  you  are  done 
smoking  and  get  rested  and  ready  for  work  it's  so 
near  night  that  you  think  it  better  to  wait  till  next 
day.  If  the  gophers  haven't  got  away  again  with 
it  by  that  time  you  are  in  luck,  and  even  if  they 
haven't,  the  sides  of  the  ditch  are  so  dry  that  half 
the  water  is  lost  by  seepage  and  evaporation,  and 
by  the  time  you  have  coaxed  it  around  a  dozen 
trees  you  wish  you  had  never  been  born,  espe- 
cially when  you  reflect  that  }-ou  have  got  to  go 
over  the  whole  programme  agam   in   about  three 


1 8  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

days  more  or  the  ground  will  bake  as  hard  as  a 
petrified  brick." 

"Then  what  do  you  live  on,  if  you  don't  raise 
anything  ?"  asked  my  friend. 

"  Credit.  Haven't  you  been  here  long  enough 
to  learn  that  trick?" 

"  I  exhausted  mine  some  time  ago." 

"  What  are  you  doing  then  ?"  asked  the 
granger  with  more  interest  than  he  had  yet 
shown. 

"  Poising." 

"  Poising  ?     What's  that  ?" 

"  Did  you  never  see  a  hawk  poising — hanging 
still  in  the  air  watching  for  something  to  drop 
on  ?     That's  my  business  at  present." 

"  Well,  as  long  as  you  can  keep  afloat  on  wind 
I  would  advise  you  not  to  drop  on  anything  in 
this  country." 

"  Why  don't  you  get  a  wife  ?  A  man  needs  a 
helpmeet  for  success  on  a  farm  as  well  here  as 
anywhere  else." 

"  I  don't  need  any  help  in  getting  clear  of  grub, 
and  that  is  the  only  thing  I  will  make  a  success  of 
in  this  country.  My  family  is  already  too  big  for 
this  ranche." 

"  I  suppose  you  might  be  induced  to  sell  ?'' 


BEFORE    THE  BOOM.  1 9 

"  Well — yes — I — might.  I  have  made  enough 
out  of  it,  and  would  be  willing  to  let  some  one 
else  have  a  show.  There  is  nothing  small  about 
me." 

"  And  then  what  would  you  do  ?" 

"  Go  to  work  for  somebody  that  had  a  ranche. 
In  two  years  I  would  own  it. 

"  Yes,  and  he  would  turn  around  and  work  for 
you  and  get  it  back  in  another  two  years." 

"  Not  much.  I  would  be  too  smart  to  run 
another  ranche  in  this  country.  I  would  unload 
it  on  some  tender-foot." 

"  Then  you  would  return  to  the  East,  I  sup- 
pose," I  remarked. 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it,"  replied  the  granger  with  an 
air  of  intense  disgust.  I  like  Southern  California 
too  well  for  my  own  good.  She  is  a  tricky  damsel, 
first-rate  to  flirt  with,  but  of  no  account  as  a  busi- 
ness partner.  But  I  love  her  in  spite  of  her  tricks, 
and  not  even  the  archangel's  trump  can  ever  raise 
my  bones  from  her  soil." 

Emerging  from  the  canyon  in  which  lay  the 
"  ranche"  of  the  bachelor  granger,  our  way  lay 
for  miles  over  a  dreary  stretch  of  gray  sand,  half 
covered  with  a  thin  and  sorry-looking  gray  brush 
about  knee-high.     Scarcely  a  lobe  even  or  cactus 


20  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DA  Y. 

relieved  the  monotonous,  gray  of  the  sand  and 
brush.  Scarcely  a  sign  of  life  relieved  the  hot 
glare  of  the  vast  expanse  of  desert  save  an  occa- 
sional hare  sitting  in  the  exasperating  shade  of 
some  little  low  bush  just  thick  enough  to  stop 
all  the  breeze  and  just  thin  enough  to  let  through 
the  last  beam  of  the  midday  sun.  Each  hare 
looked  weary  and  mad,  yet  wore  withal  a  look  of 
mild  resignation  akin  to  that  of  the  granger  we 
had  just  left.  Nowhere  within  sight  was  there 
for  him  any  means  of  support,  and  yet  it  was  evi- 
dent that,  like  the  granger,  he  did  not  wish  to 
leave  the  country.  It  was  from  these  two  fixtures 
that  I  had  my  first  conception  of  living  on 
climate. 

Deeply  scarred  at  intervals  with  a  ragged  gash 
made  by  some  rush  of  water  from  the  mountains 
and  at  other  intervals  covered  with  a  great  wash 
of  boulders,  cobble-stones  and  coarse  sand  from 
the  same  source,  miles  of  this  wretched-looking 
stuff  stretched  away  toward  the  bottom  of  the 
valley,  where  a  few  distant  lines  of  green  showed 
the  possibility  of  some  settlement.  The  man  who 
for  an  instant  would  have  dreamed  of  any  one  liv- 
ing on  this  desert  would  have  been  deemed  insane, 
and  at  that  time  probably  would  have  been  so.     I 


BEFORE    THE  BOOM.  21 

could  have  bought  thousands  of  acres  of  it  for  a 
song,  but  neither  my  companion  nor  I  would  have 
paid  the  land-of¥ice  fees  to  preempt  the  whole  of 
it.  And  the  oldest  residents  of  the  country  were 
the  most  pronounced  of  all  in  their  opinion  that 
it  was  utterly  worthless  for  any  purpose  and  for 
all  time. 

Many  a  reader  will  take  most  of  the  above  for 
a  very  weak  attempt  to  be  funny.  But  it  is 
written  in  sober  earnest,  and  does  not  describe  one 
half  of  the  difificulties  that  then  beset  every  man 
who  departed  from  raising  live-stock  and  tried  to 
coax  a  dollar  or  even  worry  a  living  out  of  the 
soil ;  except  in  a  few  places  around  Los  Angeles, 
where  some  money  was  made  by  sending  a  few 
oranges  to  the  limited  market  of  San  Francisco. 
So  universal  were  the  troubles  of  the  common 
farmer  and  fruit-grower,  that  most  of  them  were 
chronic  grumblers,  taking  a  positive  satisfaction 
in  relating  their  experience.  Everywhere  one 
could  hear  people  tell  a  more  harrowing  tale  than 
the  one  above ;  and  they  would  tell  it  with  gen- 
uine gusto,  and  apparently  with  more  satisfaction 
before  a  stranger  than  when  alone.  Many  an  hour's 
amusement  the  writer  has  had  from  sea-coast  to 
mountain-top,    drawing  out  the  unfortunates  by 


22  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

questions  \\hich  he  soon  learned  to  frame.  Yet 
with  all  their  troubles  they  were  all  like  the 
bachelor  granger  and  the  hare.  They  were  all 
mad  and  sad,  but  none  of  them  wanted  to  leave 
the  country.  Although  nearly  every  place  in  the 
land  was  for  sale,  it  was  not  to  get  money  with 
which  to  leave  the  country,  but  to  repeat  the  same 
folly  somewhere  on  another  place  that  seemed  to 
have  better  conditions. 

As  long  as  production  was  subject  to  so  many 
drawbacks  there  was  no  prospect  of  a  boom,  and 
nobody  thought  of  any.  But  in  the  next  ten 
years  the  land  underwent  a  change  which  was 
probably  the  most  rapid  and  radical  that  the 
world  has  ever  seen. 


THE   CHANGES  OF   TEN    YEARS.  23 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  CHANGES  OF  TEN  YEARS. 

In  the  winter  of  1885  I  chanced  again  to  visit 
the  place  of  the  bachelor  granger.  But  for  the 
towering  mountains  that  looked  solemnly  down 
upon  it  with  their  timbered  heads  and  sides  all 
robed  in  white,  I  should  hardly  have  recognized 
the  place.  It  had  long  been  in  other  hands,  and 
its  first  owner  had  gone  back  into  the  hills  to  re- 
peat on  a  new  farm  the  folly  that  had  cost  him 
this  one. 

On  one  side  of  the  little  valley,  upon  a  broad 
knoll,  once  crowned  with  cactus  and  piles  of  granite 
that  formed  a  perfect  citadel  for  the  rabbits  and 
squirrels  that  had  ravaged  the  garden  of  the  for- 
mer owner,  stood  now  a  large  and  handsome  house, 
surrounded  with  verdure  of  every  shade,  upon 
which  were  embroidered  all  the  colors  of  the  rain- 
bow. Hedges  of  lime,  cypress,  and  pomegranate 
enclosed  the  place,  and  India-rubber,  camphor, 
umbrella,  and  other  tropical  trees  shaded  the  walks. 


24  Millionaires  of  a  da  v. 

Encircled  by  hedges  of  geranium  aglow  with  scarlet 
light  lay  smooth  little  lawns  of  varied  grasses, 
with  stars  and  circles  and  diamond-shaped  center- 
pieces of  heliotrope,  pansy,  calla,  fuchsia,  and 
what  not,  all  of  great  size,  and  bright  and  fresh  as 
if  born  of  last  night's  dew.  The  rocks  that  once 
looked  so  formidable  had  all  been  blasted  away 
except  a  few  left  here  and  there  in  fantastic  piles, 
from  the  centers  of  which  fountains  played  over 
shining  green  tangles  of  curious  vines  and  ferns. 
The  porches  and  lower  story  of  the  house  were 
nearly  lost  in  a  profusion  of  nasturtiums,  roses, 
honeysuckles,  and  geraniums,  that  were  climbing 
over  everything  upon  which  they  could  get  a  foot- 
hold, and  pouring  a  flood  of  color  over  the  whole. 
From  this  knoll  the  land  at  first  descended  to- 
ward the  hill  in  a  gentle  slope,  and  then  rose  in 
long  lines  of  orange,  lemon,  and  olive  trees,  apri- 
cots, prunes,  peaches,  nectarines,  and  pears,  and 
grape-vines  of  some  thirty  varieties.  Ten  years 
before,  this  hillside  seemed  too  steep  to  run  even 
a  plow  upon.  But  fully  two  thirds  of  its  slope 
seemed  to  have  disappeared  with  cultivation. 
Then  the  soil  seemed  thin,  hard,  and  worthless  as 
a  burnt  brick,  and  bearing  no  grass  or  other  vege- 
tation but  a  thin  gray  brush,  that  wore  a  sad  and 


THE   CHANGES  OF    TEN    YEARS.  2$ 

weary  air  as  if  worsted  in  the  struggle  for  existence. 
Its  former  owner  never  imagined  that  it  would 
produce  even  a  white  bean,  and  had  hesitated  long 
about  preempting  the  place  because  the  govern- 
ment lines  ran  in  such  a  way  that,  in  order  to  get 
the  bottom-land  along  the  creek  that  he  wanted, 
he  had  to  include  this  in  his  entry  and  pay  a 
dollar  and  a  quarter  an  acre  for  it.  Though  rich 
as  the  best  of  prairie,  the  bottom  land  which  he 
then  deemed  the  only  thing  of  value  was  now  the 
least  valuable  part  of  the  whole,  and  was  de- 
voted entirely  to  the  raising  of  corn  and  hay,  and 
to  pasture  ;  while  on  the  miserable-looking  hill- 
side twenty  acres  of  oranges  but  five  years  old 
from  the  nursery  were  paying  an  income  of  ten 
per  cent  a  year  on  the  total  cost  of  the  place  and 
all  its  improvements.  Apricots,  peaches,  and  nec- 
tarines not  as  old  were  already  netting  seventy- 
five  dollars  an  acre,  forty  acres  of  Muscat  grapes 
were  turning  off  nearly  a  ton  of  raisins  to  the 
acre,  and  next  year  the  olives  would  repay  the 
entire  cost  of  their  planting  and  care,  and  yield  a 
steady  income  thereafter. 

The  difficulties  to  which  the  former  owner  suc- 
cumbed were  all  mastered.  A  well-built  hen- 
house   fastened    at    night    protected    a    hundred 


26  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

chickens.  A  light  fence  of  lath  at  the  bottom  of 
the  hedges  kept  out  all  the  rabbits.  The  owner's 
boy  with  his  little  22-caliber  rifle  had  the  blue- 
jays  and  other  mischievous  birds  almost  extermi- 
nated, and  if  he  had  not,  the  quantity  of  fruit  in 
season  was  so  great  that  the  few  birds  there  were 
could  make  no  impression  upon  it.  With  a  shot- 
gun the  same  boy  kept  the  quails  out  of  the  vine- 
yard in  grape  time,  and  had.  plenty  of  fun  and  all 
the  quails  the  house  could  use  as  well.  The  de- 
structive ground-squirrels  had  all  disappeared  by 
being  treated  to  poisoned  wheat  at  the  right  time 
of  the  year,  and  in  similar  ways  all  other  pests  were 
disposed  of  completely.  And  the  little  stream 
of  water  that  our  old  friend  had  found  such  a 
nuisance  was  the  source  of  all  this  wealth.  It  had 
been  taken  out  much  higher  up  the  stream  than 
before,  increased  by  tunneling  to  three  times  its 
former  flow,  brought  down  in  a  cement  pipe  to  a 
point  on  the  hill  about  a  hundred  feet  higher  than 
the  old  owner  had  ever  thought  of  using  it,  and 
part  of  it  was  piped  to  the  house  under  a  pressure 
that  threw  it  over  the  top  of  the  chimney.  In- 
stead of  pouring  on  more  water  to  prevent  the 
baking  of  the  ground,  cultivation,  which  the  gran- 
ger had  never  thought  of,  was  now  used.    By  this 


THE    CHANGES  OF    TEN    YEARS.  27 

the  ground  was  kept  mellow  and  moist  so  long 
that  it  was  now  necessary  to  irrigate  but  four  or 
five  times  a  year  instead  of  twice  a  week,  and  for 
the  grapes  and  deciduous  fruits  two  or  three  times, 
according  to  the  character  of  the  season,  was  now 
sufficient. 

Even  more  striking  was  the  change  that  had 
come  over  the  broad  slope  of  gray  sand  that  ten 
years  before  had  excited  my  sympathies  for  the 
poor  hare  that  fate  had  condemned  to  live  on  it. 
Near  its  outer  edge  I  found  what  seemed  the  same 
old  hare,  sitting  in  the  same  old  aggravating  shade 
of  the  same  old  emaciated  bush.  But  he  now 
looked  happy  and  fat — so  much  so  that  I  felt  called 
upon  to  gather  him  in.  Half  a  mile  beyond  where 
he  sat  lay  a  long  stretch  of  bright  green,  above 
which  rose  the  gables  and  cupolas  of  hundreds  of 
houses,  mingled  with  the  spires  of  churches  and 
the  bell-towers  of  imposing  school-houses.  Up  to 
the  very  edge  of  it  the  land  lay  sad  and  gray  as 
ever,  then  suddenly  changed  into  a  maze  of  green 
as  I  crossed  a  cement-lined  ditch  in  which  spark- 
ling water  from  the  mountains  was  winding  its 
eddying  way. 

Down  a  long  avenue  lined  with  eucalyptus  and 
pepper   trees    and  feathery  palms   I    rode,    with 


28  MILLION  A  IRP:S  OF  A    DA  Y. 

hedges  of  cypress  and  arbor  vitae  on  either  side, 
enclosing  places  where  handsome  houses  of  every 
style  of  architecture  stood  embowered  in  brilliant 
shrubbery.  The  linnet  was  warbling  from  the 
apricot-tree,  and  from  the  orange  the  mocking- 
bird was  pouring  out  his  jo}'  over  the  coming  of 
the  rains ;  the  lark  in  the  almond  was  tuning  up 
his  winter  harp,  and  the  long-silent  thrush  was 
discovering  that  the  time  to  sing  had  come  again. 
On  smoothly  shaven  lawns,  starred  with  groups 
of  date-palm,  banana,  and  pampas-plumes,  children 
were  rolling  and  tumbling;  on  the  porches  young 
girls  in  summer  dress  were  reading  bare-headed  in 
hammocks  under  arcades  of  roses  and  geraniums  ; 
and  just  behind  them  all,  apparently  within  rifle- 
shot, rose  two  miles  into  the  sky  a  great  mountain 
clad  from  crown  to  base  in  glittering  snow. 

Nowhere  was  there  a  fence  to  be  seen.  The 
whole  was  one  continuous  garden  and  orchard  of 
five,  ten,  and  twenty  acre  tracts  separated  only  by 
hedges  of  pomegranate,  guava,  lime,  or  cypress,  and 
often  only  by  rose  or  geranium.  Groves  of  lemon, 
orange,  and  other  fruit  trees  and  vineyards  were  on 
every  hand,  and  the  only  thing  bearing  the  sHghtest 
resemblance  to  common  farmincr  was  an  occasional 


THE    CHANGES  OF    TEN    YEARS.  29 

Jersey  cow  tethered  on  half  an  acre  or  so  of 
brightly  green  alfalfa. 

Vainly  I  looked  for  the  gray  sand  that  ten  years 
before  appeared  so  unutterably  barren,  and  on 
the  outside  of  the  ditch  still  seemed  the  same. 
In  the  dooryards  it  was  all  hidden  b}'  the  sheets 
of  spangled  green  that  sprung  beneath  the  play 
of  revolving  fountains.  In  the  orchards  and 
vineyards  it  had  changed  under  the  plow  to  a 
chocolate-colored  loam,  in  which  a  few  specks  of 
quartz  and  feldspar  shining  here  and  there  were 
all  that  remained  of  the  sandy  appearance.  The 
cobble-stones  and  bowlders  had  been  removed 
or  heaped  into  fantastic  rock-piles  covered  with 
flowers,  or  broken  into  material  for  walks  or  con- 
crete for  the  ditches.  New  houses  were  rising, 
and  new  orchards  and  vineyards  were  stretching 
out  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  settlement;  and 
this  sorry  looking  stuff  of  a  few  years  ago  was 
now  selling  rapidly  to  immediate  settlers  for  two 
hundred  dollars  an  acre. 

Sharp  as  was  this  contrast  between  the  old  and 
the  new,  it  was  scarcely  more  so  than  the  con- 
trast between  these  once  barren  uplands  and  the 
lowlands,  once  deemed  the  only  lands  of  any  pos- 
sible value.     A  few  miles  away,  at  the  foot  of  this 


30  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  V. 

long  slope  of  coarse  wash  from  the  great  moun- 
tains, lay  the  bottom  of  the  valley — a  broad 
sweep  of  fine,  deep  alluvium,  fertile  as  any  land 
under  the  sun.  But  the  settlement  upon  it  bore 
a  painful  resemblance  to  that  of  ten  years  before, 
with  many  suspicious  symptoms  of  possible  retro- 
gression. There  were  the  same  broad  fields  of 
deep,  rich  soil ;  the  same  long  expanses  of  moist 
land,  always  damp  enough  to  raise  stupendous 
crops  without  irrigation.  Acre  for  acre,  this  land 
would  raise  in  a  series  of  years  heavier  crops  of 
corn,  grass,  alfalfa,  beets,  pumpkins,  sweet  pota- 
toes, and  similar  stuff  than  any  lands  in  the  East- 
ern States.  Yet  it  was  evidently  not  sought  by 
the  new  settlers,  and  no  new  houses  were  rising 
upon  it.  What  farms  there  were  upon  it  were  al- 
most as  scattered,  as  old-fashioned  and  cheerless 
as  in  the  past.  Almost  the  whole  of  it  was  devoted 
to  corn,  alfalfa,  and  pasture,  with  a  few  of  the 
owners  still  clinging  to  their  old  orchards  and 
vineyards,  though  for  most  fruits  and  vines  time 
had  proved  them  of  little  value  as  compared  with 
those  on  the  uplands. 

A  glance  at  the  people  showed  them  radically 
different  from  those  on  the  upland.  They  were 
mostly  of  the  old-time  lazy,  dawdling  set,  striving 


THE    CHANGES  OF    TEN    YEARS.  3 1 

only  to  make  a  careless  living  with  the  least 
amount  of  work,  and  caring  little  for  the  beauty 
of  their  surroundings.  Occasionally  a  grove  of 
English  walnuts  on  land  not  too  wet  was  yielding 
heavy  profits,  and  some  other  trees  and  vines 
were  doing  very  well ;  but  on  the  greater  part  of 
the  land  it  was  common  farming  of  the  most  com- 
mon kind.  Some  of  the  settlers  sneered  at  the 
people  on  the  upland  as  a  lot  of  fools  who  would 
soon  get  tired  of  working  poor  land  and  would 
some  day  know  good  land  when  they  saw  it  ;  but 
the  majority  were  quite  willing  to  sell  and  follow 
the  example  of  the  "  fools"  on  the  higher  slopes. 
Even  more  striking  was  the  change  in  the 
quality  of  the  fruit  the  country  was  now  produc- 
ing and  in  the  way  it  was  put  up  for  market.  In 
1875  nothing  worthy  of  the  name  orange  could  be 
seen  in  California.  Thick-skinned,  sour,  pithy, 
and  dry,  it  was  an  insult  to  the  noblest  of  fruit 
to  call  the  California  product  by  that  name. 
Though  a  few  in  San  Francisco  bought  them  be- 
cause at  the  time  of  the  year  when  they  are  ripe 
they  could  get  none  elsewhere,  they  were  not  fit 
to  eat,  or  even  to  look  at.  The  lemons,  great 
overgrown  things,  with  skin  half  an  inch  thick 
over  a  dry  and  spongy  interior,  were  more  worthy 


32  .  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DA  V. 

of  pity  than  contempt.  In  the  winter  of  1884-5 
the  oranges  and  lemons  of  Southern  CaHfornia,  in 
competition  with  those  of  almost  the  whole  world, 
swept  away  all  the  premiums  at  the  New  Orleans 
Exposition,  and  the  oranges  were  then  selling  on 
the  Eastern  market  in  a  way  that  showed  that  the 
premiums  were  based  upon  true  merit.  Placing 
the  orchards  on  the  high  land,  discarding  the  old 
methods  of  irrigation,  and  using  less  water  and 
more  plow,  caused  almost  the  whole  of  the 
change. 

In  1880  a  California  raisin  was  deservedly  a 
laughing-stock  in  the  few  markets  where  the 
packer  had  the  impudence  to  offer  them.  By 
1885  people  had  discovered  that  labeling  dried 
grapes  "  raisins"  did  not  make  them  so,  and  that 
the  trick  of  filling  the  middle  of  the  box  with  the 
poorest  ones  was  neither  funny  nor  profitable. 
I  hesitate  to  record  such  an  astonishing  truth,  but 
it  is  also  a  fact  that  in  those  five  short  years  they 
also  discovered  that  the  trick  was  not  original. 
Every  packer  had  acted  as  if  he  had  worked  it 
out  as  a  bran-new  conception.  In  five  short 
years  he  found  that  others  had  thought  of  the 
same  thing.  Having  learned  that  care  in  curing 
and  honesty  in  packing  were  as  essential  as  thq  soil 


THE   CHANGES  OF    TEN    YEARS.  33 

or  the  sunshine  that  made  the  grape  what  it  is,  peo- 
ple were  in  1885  turning  out  a  raisin  which  fore- 
told the  easy  victory  they  have  since  won  in 
every  market  in  which  their  raisins  have  been 
introduced. 

Similar  improvement  had  been  made  in  almost 
every  other  branch  of  cultivation  of  the  soil. 
Peaches,  prunes,  apricots,  pears,  nectarines,  and 
other  fruits  that  hitherto  had  gone  to  waste  were 
now  being  canned  and  dried,  and  were  all  paying 
an  income  to  the  acre  that  no  Eastern  farmer  ever 
dreams  of.  Common  farming,  too,  where  carried 
on  with  one  half  the  industry,  economy,  and  busi- 
ness prudence  necessary  in  the  rest  of  the  world, 
would  now  insure  a  better  living,  with  fewer 
discomforts,  than  farming  anywhere  else.  Though 
it  could  not  approach  fruit-growing  as  a  source 
of  profit  or  as  an  easy  and  pleasant  out-of-door 
occupation  for  those  having  no  love  for  heavy 
work,  it  had  advanced  enough  to  prove  conclu- 
sively that  Southern  California  was  by  no  means 
dependent  upon  fruit-growing,  and  that  the  man 
who  could  not  buy  good  fruit  land  could  make  a 
prosperous  home  in  thousands  of  places  where 
ten  years  before  not  even  the  rabbits  could 
have  saved  him. 


34  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

Nearly  all  of  this  change  had  been  wrought  by 
a  class  of  emigrants  that  scarcely  any  other  sec- 
tion in  the  world  has  ever  seen.  Nearly  all  of 
them  were  people  of  means — many  of  them 
quite  wealthy — all  seeking  a  change  of  climate. 
Though  some  came  for  their  own  health,  or  the 
health  of  some  member  of  their  family,  the 
majority  were  in  no  sense  invalids.  They  were 
simply  weary  of  bad  weather  of  every  description, 
and  able  to  spend  the  rest  of  life  in  a  place 
where  they  would  be  free  from  it.  Such  people 
were  determined  to  have  pleasant  homes  with 
some  beauty  around  them,  whether  it  were  profit- 
able or  not.  If  at  the  same  time  a- place  could  be 
made  profitable  as  well  as  handsome,  so  much  the 
better.  Separately,  and  on  isolated  tracts,  many 
had  been  working  out  the  problem  of  raising  the 
finest  fruits  merely  for  pleasure,  and  with  no  ex- 
pectation that  it  would  repay  the  outlay.  Oth- 
ers, as  at  Riverside,  were  working  on  the  problem 
in  concert,  and  with  a  firm  conviction  that  it 
would  some  day  repay  them,  but  still  determined 
to  experiment  whether  it  ever  were  profitable  or 
not.  Few  undertakings  could  seem  more  hope- 
less than  the  raising  of  anything  on  the  dry 
slope,  hard  and  bare  as  the  floor  of  a  brick-yard, 


THE   CHANGES  OF   TEN    YEARS.  35 

where  Riverside  now  glows  in  beauty.  Yet  its 
founders  were  firm  in  their  faith.  They  let  the 
laughers  laugh,  and  devoted  themselves  to  the 
water-ditch  and  the  cultivator.  Before  the 
owners  of  the  rich  bottom-lands  had  finished  their 
smile  three  thousand  acres  of  this  wretched-look- 
ing stuff  were  bringing  the  owners  more  money 
to  the  acre  than  any  other  equal  area  in  the 
United  States. 

By  the  year  1885  it  was  plain  that  this  turning 
over  to  cattle  and  swine  of  the  fertile  meadows, 
green  all  summer  with  mallow  and  clover  and 
silvery  grass,  and  the  bottom-lands  where  the 
Cottonwood,  sycamore,  and  willow  intertwined 
with  great  wild  grapevines,  the  whole  casting  a 
dense  shade  over  the  richest  soil  in  America,  was 
no  mere  whim  of  the  passing  hour.  There  was 
no  malaria  there,  the  soil  was  always  damp  and 
needed  little  or  no  irrigation,  and  enormous  crops 
were  a  certainty.  Yet  the  land  would  not  bring 
the  same  price  it  had  brought  in  many  places 
years  before ;  while  the  barren-looking  stuff  a 
few  hundred  feet  above  it,  which  in  its  natural 
state  needed  fifty  acres  to  keep  a  sheep  in  some 
seasons,  was  now  selling  readily  at  five  or  six 
times  what  the  other  had  ever  sold  for. 


$6  M  rU. TON  AIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

This  great  difference  was  due- 
First,  to  tlie  discovery  that,  tliough  some  lands 
were  much  richer  than  others,  all  land  that 
could  be  plowed  at  all,  no  matter  what  its  appear- 
ance, its  condition,  or  its  subsoil,  was  good  enough 
if  properly  irrigated. 

Second,  the  discovery  that  the  difference  in 
the  temperature  of  winter  nights  on  the  lowlands 
and  on  the  uplands  was  a  steady  difference  to  the 
owner  of  many  dollars  to  the  acre. 

Third,  to  the  fact  that  nearly  all  kinds  of  valu-' 
able  trees  on  the  bottom-lands  were  sooner  or 
later  injured,  and  often  killed,  by  the  roots  going 
into  standing  water  below  the  surface;  and  as  this 
water  was  subject  to  change  of  level  with  the 
varying  amount  of  rainfall  in  different  winters,  it 
was  next  to  impossible  to  know  where  to  put  a 
tree  on  the  bottom-land  so  that  the  water-level 
could  not  rise  upon  its  roots. 

What  wonder,  then,  that  the  news  of  all  these 
changes  went  abroad  ?— that  people  who  came  to 
look  were  enraptured,  as  people  had  always  been, 
with  the  soft  climate,  and  now  were  pleased  with 
tlic  idea  of  enjoying  it,  and  at  the  same  time 
ni.iking  profit  out  of  it  by  the  easiest  of  all  out-of- 
door  work  ?     Was  it  not  now  evident  that  these 


THE    CHANGES  OF   TEN    YEARS.  'S7 

irrigated  lands  were  going  to  support  the  largest 
population  to  the  acre  of  any  lands  in  the  United 
States  ?  Was  it  not  plain  that  the  once  de- 
spised "  cow  counties"  which  the  northern  part  of 
the  State  had  long  sneered  at  were  fast  becoming 
the  most  valuable  part  of  the  State  for  the  area  ? 
No  one  who  would  take  the  trouble  to  look  around 
and  examine  the  shipping  receipts  and  account 
books  of  the  fruit-buyers,  who  were  already  estab- 
lished in  business  and  were  buying  for  cash  the 
fruit  upon  the  vines  and  trees  and  picking  and 
packing  it  themselves,  and  were  bidding  against 
one  another  for  anything  and  everything,  could 
any  longer  doubt  it.  The  discoveries  of  the  few 
years  preceding  had  expanded  by  many  hundred 
fold  the  productive  area  of  the  country,  and  so 
increased  the  power  of  each  acre  that  the  future 
was  now  beyond  question. 


3B  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DAY. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   BEGINNING   OF  THE   BOOM. 

So  constantly  accumulating  on  every  side  were 
the  proofs  of  the  wonderful  results  of  the  skillful 
management  of  an  irrigating  stream  on  the  warm 
uplands  of  the  southern  counties  under  a  sun 
where  so  many  things  grow  the  whole  year 
through,  that  a  steady  increase  in  travel  was  the 
result.  Before  the  spring  of  1885  nearly  all  visit- 
ors came  only  in  winter.  Like  birds  of  passage, 
the  whole  flock  took  wing  as  soon  as  the  almanac 
announced  that  spring  had  come,  leaving  only  a 
few  who  concluded  to  settle.  Almost  universal 
was  the  impression  that  the  heat  of  the  summer 
must  be  intolerable.  "  If  the  winter  is  so  fine, 
what  must  the  summer  be  ?"  was  a  very  natural 
question  for  the  many  who  do  not  know  that  the 
great  Gulf  Stream  of  this  coast  is  from  a  polar 
gulf  instead  of  from  a  tropical  gulf,  as  on  the 
Atlantic.  Instead  of  going  to  the  records  of  the 
United    States   Signal    Service,  which    had    been 


THE  BEGlMNiNG   OF    THE   BOOM.  30 

kept  here  for  many  years,  they  sought  the  answer 
in  their  own  imaginations.  Such  records  are 
only  used  by  cranks  and  bookwoims.  Your 
"  practical  man,"  who  knows  enough  to  make 
some  money  in  this  world,  evolves  all  such  infor- 
mation from  his  inner  consciousness.  The  richer 
he  is  the  less  use  he  has  for  any  such  theoretical 
nonsense  as  records.  With  a  week's  observa- 
tion he  can  tell  you  every  peculiarity  of  the  cli- 
mate without  bothering  with  any  records.  As  he 
is  rich,  most  people  believe  that  he  knows  all 
about  it,  and  thus  the  knowledge  of  the  climate 
of  the  country  is  spread  through  the  East.  Con- 
sequently the  travel  had  been  like  that  into 
Florida — a  few  weeks'  run  of  midwinter  tourists, 
of  whom  a  small  percentage  remained  to  settle. 

But,  to  the  surprise  of  all,  the  travel  in  the 
spring  of  1885,  instead  of  falling  off,  remained 
about  the  same  as  in  the  winter,  and  continued 
so  all  summer.  It  had  long  been  noticed  that 
though  the  majority  of  the  settlers  were  people 
who  had  been  captured  by  the  fine  weather  of  the 
winter,  a  much  larger  proportion  had  always 
been  ensnared  by  the  summer.  Thousands  had 
spent  a  winter  here  and  gone  away,  never  to  re- 
turn.    But  of  the  hundreds  who  dallied  with  the 


40  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DA  V. 

long,  bright  summer,  with  its  dry  air,  cool  nights, 
and  unfailing  sea-breeze,  few  ever  went  away  to 
stay  long. 

,  This  difference  was  now  more  striking  than 
ever,  and  before  summer  was  half  over  the  rate  of 
settlement  was  much  more  rapid  than  formerly, 
and  prices  were  already  rising  a  little.  New  houses 
were  dotting  the  landscapes  far  and  near ;  new 
settlements  like  Redlands  were  springing  here  and 
there  ;  Los  Angeles,  Pasadena,  and  San  Bernar- 
dino were  growing  rapidly ;  on  the  north  Santa 
Barbara  and  San  Buenaventura  were  beginning  to 
feel  the  effect ;  and  even  San  Diego  began  to  rub 
its  eyes  after  the  long  sleep  that  followed  the 
collapse  of  the  Texas  Pacific  Railroad  some  twelve 
years  back. 

The  winter  of  1885-6  came  on,  and  travel  in- 
creased as  never  before  and  began  some  six  weeks 
earlier  than  usual.  The  retired  banker  who  had 
long  forgotten  his  brother,  who  for  years  had 
been  struggling  with  ill-health  and  the  combined 
dif^culties  that  beset  all  the  earlier  settlers  of  this 
country,  and  whose  appeals  for  a  small  loan  had 
been  always  met  with  the  answer  "  Money  is  very 
tight  just  now,"  suddenly  remembered  him  when 
he  heard  he  was   now  making  some  money,  and 


THE  BEGINNING   OF    THE  BOOM.  4 1 

came  out  to  pay  him  a  visit  instead  of  pa)'in!j 
board  at  a  hotel  in  Florida.  The  rich  merchant 
who  had  heretofore  gone  to  Florida,  hearing  that 
wealthy  people  were  now  going  to  California,  con- 
cluded that  he  would  try  it.  The  wealthy  broker, 
whose  curiosity  is  always  excited  by  the  report 
that  somebody  is  making  some  money  somewhere, 
came  also  to  examine  the  situation.  Professional 
tourists,  hearing  that  there  were  now  some  good 
hotels  in  California  and  good  eating-houses  along 
the  way,  and  Pullman  cars  to  ride  in,  concluded 
to  add  Southern  California  to  their  stock  of  sub- 
jects to  talk  about.  People  who  had  been  here 
before  and  were  pleased  with  everything  but  the 
prospects  of  making  anything  out  of  the  soil,  hear- 
ing now  of  its  great  advance,  came  back  to  see  if 
there  were  sufficient  inducement  to  stay.  Along 
with  these  came  invalids  and  other  climate-seekers, 
and  people  whose  relatives  here  had  been  advising 
them  to  come  out,  and  farmers  by  the  hundred, 
tired  of  vibrating  for  seven  months  in  the  year 
between  the  fireplace  and  the  wood-pile,  dodging 
cyclones  and  taking  quinine.  And  with  these 
came  schemers  and  promoters  of  all  kinds,  with  a 
little  money  which  they  were  anxious  to  increase 
at  the  expense  of  some  one  else  and  without  risk- 


42  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

ing"  any  of  their  own  ;  and  capitalists  of  high  and 
low  degree,  who  had  heard  that  the  country  was 
prosperous,  for  prosperity  makes  friends  for  a 
country  as  well  as  for  persons. 

The  winter  of  1885-6  was  well  adapted  to  cap- 
ture any  one,  for  the  rains  had  come  early  and 
by  the  middle  of  January  the  whole  land  was  a 
rolling  sheet  of  green.  He  who  stood  on  any  of 
the  higher  hills  around  Los  Angeles  with  a  good 
glass  could  see  an  area  of  country  immediately 
around  the  city  that  when  worked  to  its  full 
capacity  under  the  improved  methods  of  the  time 
would  make  almost  a  State  in  itself.  Below  him, 
surrounded  by  a  wealth  of  green  reaching  away 
from  the  center  in  long  lines  of  ten,  twenty,  and 
forty  acre  tracts,  lay  a  rapidly  growing  city  of 
some  twenty  thousand  people,  scattered  amid 
groves  of  oranges  in  which  the  golden  gleam  of 
the  ripening  fruit  and  the  snowy  bloom  of  the 
crop  to  come  contrasted  brightly  with  the  dark 
sheen  of  the  evergreen  leaves.  Miles  away  into 
the  southeast  until  lost  in  the  hazy  green  of  the 
great  San  Joaquin  rancho  reached  a  vast  plain 
sloping  gently  up  to  the  foot  of  the  Santa  Ana 
mountains,  and  as  gently  down  on  the  south  to 
the  edge  of  the  great  shining  ocean.     From  there 


THE  BEGINNING  OF   THE  BOOM.  43 

to  where  the  verdant  carpet  of  the  land  curled  up 
into  the  highlands  above  San  Pedro  and  on  the 
west  rolled  away  to  where  Santa  Monica  slept 
beside  the  sea,  villages,  hamlets,  and  farms  dotted 
the  land  on  every  side.  Dark  groves  of  oranges, 
deep-green  fields  of  alfalfa,  orchards  of  English 
walnut,  apricot,  and  other  deciduous  fruits,  and 
mile  upon  mile  of  vineyard  spread  out  before  him 
on  every  hand  ;  miles  of  dark  earth  freshly  up- 
turned where  the  great  gang-plows  were  putting 
in  grain,  and  miles  of  green  beside  them  where 
the  grain  already  sown  was  brightening  over  the 
land.  Above  the  dense  shade  of  the  eucalyptus, 
cypress,  and  pepper  trees  that  hid  the  vineyards 
and  orchards  in  their  midst,  the  spires  and  roofs 
of  Anaheim,  Santa  Ana,  Orange,  Tustin,  and 
others  of  the  larger  settlements  were  dimly  vis- 
ible. Larger  farms  bearing  every  sign  of  high 
prosperity  filled  the  intervals  between  these  settle- 
ments, except  where  some  great  rancho,  still  un- 
divided, spread  out  its  leagues  of  land,  on  which 
large  herds  of  cattle  and  horses  were  nibbling  the 
springing  grass.  Miles  away  the  eye  could  trace 
the  shining  threads  of  the  water-ditches  that 
caused  most  of  this  wealth,  and  by  the  long  lines 
of  timber  could   follow  the  courses  of  the  rivers, 


44  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DA  Y. 

and  through  the  openings  in  the  trees  could  see 
the  sparkle  of  their  waters. 

On  the  northwest  to  where  the  plains  of  Santa 
Monica  sloped  into  the  Cahuenga  hills  one  saw 
the  same  alternation  of  immense  ranches,  orchards 
and  vineyards,  broad  pastures  dotted  with  horses 
and  cattle,  and  thousand-acre  fields  darkly  brown 
with  earth  fresh  from  the  plow.  If  he  turned  his 
glass  over  the  Cahuenga  hills,  the  valley  of  San 
Fernando  shone  brightly  green  with  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  wheat  and  barley.  If  he  turned 
it  easterly  into  the  great  valley  of  San  Gabriel, 
long  wavy  swells  of  slope  and  vast  reaches  of 
plain,  the  whole  looking  as  if  smoothly  shaven 
and  powdered  with  emerald  dust,  stretched  leagues 
away  to  where  the  snowy  heads  of  San  Antonio, 
San  Jacinto,  and  Greyback  looked  down  from  two 
miles  of  majesty  upon  the  fertile  valley  of  San 
Bernardino.  And  here  in  San  Gabriel,  too,  were 
long  lines  of  shade-trees,  and  sparkling  water- 
courses and  artesian  wells,  and  large  groves  of 
orange  and  lemon  that  rivaled  the  dark  green  of 
the  groves  of  live-oaks  still  standing  on  some  of 
the  larger  ranches. 

Everywhere  in  the  wide  circle  around  the  visitor, 
wreathed  in  a  blaze  of  flowers,  rose  houses  such  as 


THE   BEGINNING   OF    THE   BOOM.  45 

he  had  never  before  seen  in  any  farming  country, 
and  new  places  were  brightening  on  ahnost  every 
plain  and  slope  and  hill  where  but  lately  all  was 
open  cattle-range.  Such  a  sight  was  a  novelty 
to  any  one  from  the  East.  Nowhere  else  in  the 
world  had  such  a  class  of  settlers  been  seen.  Emi- 
grants coming  in  palace-cars  instead  of  "  prairie 
schooners,"  and  building  fine  houses  instead  of 
log  shanties,  and  planting  flowers  and  lawn-grass 
before  they  planted  potatoes  or  corn,  were  a  grand 
surprise.  And  yet  one  sweep  of  the  glass  around 
the  circle  showed  him  that  the  people  who  were 
doing  it  were  coming  faster  than  ever.  And  it 
was  plain  that  they  had  come  to  stay.  The  man 
of  means  who  at  this  time  could  spend  an  hour 
on  any  hill  from  which  a  good  view  of  Los  An- 
geles County  could  be  had  without  calling  on  a 
real-estate  agent  before  sundown  was  the  excep- 
tion, and  not  the  rule. 

But  perhaps  the  stranger  co.ncluded  to  look 
about  a  little  more,  and  went  down  to  San  Diego. 
There  he  saw  from  the  heights  above  the  town 
the  whole  surroundings  of  the  bay  with  a  single 
sweep  of  the  eye.  From  the  long  promontor}'  of 
Point  Loma,  which  miles  away  on  the  west  forms 
one  barrier  of  the  harbor,  to  the  table-lands  of 


46  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DA  Y. 

Tia  Juana  fifteen  miles  in  the  southeast,  from  the 
water's  edge  to  the  highest  point  of  the  slope,  the 
whole  lay  undulating  in  a  hundred  shades  of  green 
under  the  soft  sunlight  that  streamed  from  the 
clear  sky.  From  every  direction  in  the  city  below 
him  came  the  sound  of  the  saw  and  the  hammer; 
and  at  National  City,  the  terminus  of  the  Santa 
Fe  Railroad,  four  miles  up  the  bay,  new  houses 
not  yet  ready  for  the  paint  were  glimmering  in 
all  the  freshness  of  new  lumber.  Miles  away  on 
either  hand  shone  the  bright  water  of  the  bay,  un- 
broken save  by  the  dark  hulls  of  the  shipping  or 
the  splash  of  the  fish-hawk  and  pelican.  Coronado 
Beach,  the  outer  guard  of  the  harbor,  had  then 
no  settlers  except  the  coyote,  the  hare,  and  the 
quail ;  but  its  green  chapparal  and  thousands  of 
springing  flowers  and  its  happy  location  on  the 
bay  plainly  foretold  its  future.  Beyond  it  lay  the 
great  Ocean  of  Peace,  its  shimmering  face  smooth 
as  the  bay  within,  except  where  a  few  lines  of 
lazy  foam  curling  up  on  the  shore  were  tr}Mng  to 
keep  up  the  appearance  of  an  ocean.  Miles  away 
on  its  unruffled  plain  rose  the  j'uggcd  outlines  of 
the  Coronado  Islands,  changing  into  fantastic 
forms  under  the  iniragc  formed  by  the  mirror  of 
the  sea.      In  the  south  in  rank  u[)on  rank  rose  the 


THE   BEGINNING   OF    THE   BOOM.  A7 

mountains  of  Mexico,  hazily  blue  with  distance  ; 
and  on  the  east,  chain  upon  chain  of  pine-fringed 
ridges  ran  away  into  the  north  until  they  curled 
swiftly  up  into  great  snowy  peaks,  like  white 
clouds  floating  in  the  far-off  blue.  But  what 
pleased  the  eye  of  the  stranger  more  than  all  else 
were  the  miles  and  miles  of  slope  that  in  every 
direction  rolled  from  the  highlands  toward  the 
bay  with  just  the  right  descent  for  perfect  drain- 
age, yet  wide  enough  and  smooth  enough  for  a 
vast  city.  His  fancy  readily  covered  the  bay  with 
wharves,  and  on  the  horizon's  utmost  verge  it  saw 
the  white  wings  of  commerce  looming  up  from 
the  Occident,  laden  with  the  wealth  of  China, 
Japan,  and  Australia,  and  all  steered  by  the  pilot 
of  especial  destiny  for  what  the  United  States 
charts  showed  was  one  of  the  best  harbors  in  the 
world. 

The  probabilities  were  very  strong  that  before 
another  sun  lit  up  the  scene  this  man  also  called 
upon  a  real-estate  agent. 

But  perhaps  the  stranger  was  unusually  wise, 
and  concluded  to  look  still  farther,  and  hied  him 
away  to  the  county  of  San  Bernardino. 

Here  he  found  nearly  half  a  million  acres  of 
rich  land  lying  in  a  body  beneath  an  almost  tropi- 


48  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DA  Y. 

cal  sun,  and  surrounded  by  lofty  mountains,  upon 
whose  tops  glittered  eternal  snow  scarcely  fifteen 
miles  from  where  the  orange,  lemon,  and  banana 
were  growing.  Down  the  dark  ravines  from  the 
snow-banks  above  came  sparkling  streams  wind- 
ing out  on  the  slopes  and  table-lands,  in  ditches 
and  flumes,  and  pipes  of  cement  or  iron,  while 
miles  of  new  aqueduct  were  building  in  every  di- 
rection. New  orchards  were  planting  on  every 
hand,  and  thousands  of  acres  of  vineyard  and 
green  fields  of  alfalfa  were  stretching  across  the 
valley  and  reaching  far  out  upon  the  lately  bare 
and  sun-baked  plains.  He  found  scores  of  men 
making  not  only  a  living  but  a  good  profit  besides 
out  of  only  ten  acres,  forcing  the  land  by  control 
of  the  water  to  a  productive  power  of  which  he 
had  never  imagined  any  soil  capable.  He  found 
people  cutting  grain,  then  irrigating  the  land  and 
planting  corn  which  they  would  harvest  in  August, 
then  planting  potatoes  which  they  were  to  dig  in 
November,  and  have  the  ground  again  green  with 
another  crop  of  grain  by  Christmas.  He  found 
them  raising  berries  and  vegetables  and  corn  and 
even  alfalfa  in  the  young  orchards  between  the 
rows  of  trees,  the  advantages  of  proper  irrigation 
being  so  great  that  one  could  in  this  way  use  the 


THE  BEGINNING   OF   THE  BOOM.  49 

intermediate  ground  while  waiting  for  the  trees  to 
mature.  In  the  country  new  houses  were  rising 
on  every  slope,  and  the  city  of  San  Bernardino 
was  growing,  with  a  growth  clearly  compelled  by 
that  of  the  surrounding  country,  and  solidly  safe 
for  an  investor.  Its  people  did  no  boasting  of 
climate,  or  scenery,  or  future  commercial  advan- 
tages. They  pointed  with  pride  only  to  the  miles 
of  rich  soil  around  their  doors,  to  the  shining  lines 
of  the  water-ditches,  and  to  the  artesian  wells  that 
glittered  around  them  over  thousands  of  acres, 
and  even  in  the  city  were  so  numerous  that  almost 
every  poor  man  could  at  small  cost  have  his  own 
system  of  water-works. 

The  man  who  for  a  single  day  could  look  over 
such  scenes  without  at  least  having  some  curiosity 
about  prices  was  rare. 

But  possibly  all  this  seemed  to  him  too  new.  It 
was  only  within  a  very  short  time  that  the  making 
of  a  profit  or  even  a  living  on  ten  acres  had  been 
a  success,  and  it  was  not  yet  certain  that  it  could 
be  done  everywhere.  Nor  was  it  certain  that 
fruit,  however  good,  would  always  command  such 
prices  as  at  present,  he  thought. 

"  Something  a  little  more  solid  and  old-fashioned 
would  suit  me  better,"  he  perhaps  said  to  himself, 


50  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  V. 

and  then  went  to  see  the  counties  of  Ventura  and 
Santa  Barbara. 

If  he  went  into  them  at  the  opening  of  spring 
he  w^as  quite  sure  to  feel  a  curiosity  about  prices. 
Through  the  w-aving  grain  of  the  valley  of  San 
Fernando  he  rode,  and  over  a  low  range  of  moun- 
tains he  descended  into  the  valley  of  the  Santa 
Clara  River.  All  the  colors  of  the  rainbow  were 
racing  in  mad  confusion  over  the  carpet  of  green 
that  rolled  over  hill  and  dale.  Far  up  the  moun- 
tain sides  and  even  amid  the  silvery  foxtail  grass 
that  shone  so  softly  bright  beneath  the  time- 
bowed  live-oaks,  purple  and  gold  and  crimson 
and  blue  were  struggling  for  the  mastery.  The 
river  was  whirling  along  to  the  sea  through  banks 
clad  in  long  grass,  wild-rose,  and  sweetbrier,  with 
tangles  of  wild-grape  overshadowed  by  willow, 
Cottonwood,  and  sycamore,  and  its  mica  sands 
sparkling  like  flakes  of  gold  as  they  rolled  over  in 
its  swift  waters.  The  dazzle  of  flowers  grew 
brighter  as  the  valley  became  wider  in  its  descent 
to  the  coast,  and  the  stranger  was  well  prepared 
to  be  captured  even  before  he  reached  the  well- 
settled  portion.  Farm  after  farm  soon  opened 
before  him,  with  fields  of  deep  alfalfa  along  the 
river  bottom,   broad  fields  of  grain   on   the  low 


THE  BEGINNING   OE    THE  BOOM.  5 1 

slopes  that  led  away  from  it,  and  great  fields  of 
beans,  rivaling  in  size  even  the  fields  of  grain, 
which  were  themselves  often  larger  than  those  of 
the  prairie  States.  Cattle  and  horses  sleek  with 
fatness  stood  breast-deep  in  the  pastures,  or  dozed 
away  the  noontide  in  groups  beneath  the  live- 
oaks,  while  orchards  and  vineyards  spread  far 
away  up  the  steeper  slopes  that  led  to  the  moun- 
tains. He  saw  few  ten-acre  tracts,  but  mainly  large 
farms,  and  every  place  wore  an  air  of  old-time 
solidity.  Even  the  houses  that  shone  from  the 
live-oak  groves  at  the  heads  of  the  great  washes 
a  thousand  feet  or  more  above  the  valley,  or  still 
higher  up  on  the  shoulders  of  the  lofty  hills  that 
inclosed  the  scene,  wore  the  same  air.  Though 
it  might  take  the  owner  half  a  day  to  go  home, 
the  fields  of  grain  that  waved  along  the  hillsides, 
the  vineyards  and  orchards  that  shone  over  acres 
of  drift  from  the  mountain,  the  long  lines  of  bee- 
hives beside  them,  and  the  living  stream  that 
wound  through  lines  of  green  alders  down  from 
the  hills  far  above  the  house,  enabled  him  when 
he  did  reach  home  to  look  down  with  serene 
contempt  on  the  world  below. 

If    the  stranger  ever  wondered  where    Boston 
got  its  beans,  he  found  out  now,  as  the  land  fell 


52  MILLIONAIRES  GF  A    DA  V. 

away  to  the  Pacific  with  the  soil  becoming  richer 
and  finer  as  it  expanded  into  the  broad  plains  of 
Santa  Paula  and  Hucnemc,  green  for  miles  with 
grain  and  springing  corn  and  beans,  and  groves 
of  blooming  trees  and  budding  vines.  Prosperity 
smiled  on  every  side,  and  the  farmers  were  mak- 
ing more  money  to  the  acre  than  the  ordinary 
Eastern  farmer  ever  dreams  of. 

In  Santa  Barbara  County  the  stranger  found 
much  the  same  kind  of  land,  but  sloping  from  a 
high  mountain  range  to  the  ocean  in  long  rolling 
waves,  bearing  upon  its  bosom  hundreds  of  farms 
and  orchards,  with  hundreds  of  houses  looking 
down  from  their  surrounding  groves  of  moss- 
draped  live-oaks  upon  the  sea  below  and  the  dark 
green  islands  that  rose  from  its  smiling  face. 

If  a  cautious  man,  looking  only  for  a  produc- 
tive farm  in  a  safe  country,  all  this  pleased  the 
stranger.  But  while  some  of  the  visitors  flattered 
themselves  that  they  were  looking  for  such  a 
place,  they  were  really  looking  for  a  chance  to 
double  their  investments,  without  waiting  too 
long.  To  such,  this  part  of  the  country  seemed 
all  too  slow.  The  great  groves  of  English  wal- 
nuts were  undoubtedly  profitable,  and  there  was 
no    danger   of    drugging   the    market    with    the 


THE  BEGINNING   OF    THE  BOOM.  53 

product.  Equally  certain  seemed  the  orchards 
of  olive,  pear,  prune,  peach,  and  nectarine  ;  while 
in  the  broad  fields  of  grain  and  beans  there 
seemed  no  danger  at  the  prices  then  asked.  The 
long  slopes,  too,  where  so  many  new  houses  were 
rising  above  the  brilliant  coloring  of  the  green- 
sward, were  cheap  enough.  But  along  the  radiant 
hills  that  exchanged  smiles  with  the  peaceful  sea 
there  was  no  rumble  of  any  coming  boom,  in  the 
lazy  waves  that  were  lapping  the  sunny  sands  no 
murmur  of  future  speculation. 

For  such,  Pasadena  at  this  time  offered  the  fin- 
est inducements  outside  of  Los  Angeles.  The 
orchards,  vineyards,  and  gardens  of  this  fair  place 
were  not  then  suffering  from  neglect,  as  they 
were  after  the  full  force  of  the  boom  came  upon 
it,  but  the  whole  lay  radiant  with  prosperity. 
Mile  upon  mile  dowm  the  great  valley  below 
them  reached  the  residences  of  wealthy  people 
who  had  been  coming  in  for  years ;  while  the 
open  ground  between  their  places  was  covered 
with  waving  grain,  wild-oats,  and  green  pasture- 
land,  dotted  with  live-oaks  and  groups  of  cattle 
and  horses.  Beside  long  avenues  lined  with 
eucalyptus,  cypress,  and  pepper  trees,  lay  miles 
of  orchard   and  vineyard,  and   long  lines  of  new 


54  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  V. 

ones  were  creeping  up  the  slopes  to  the  very  feet 
of  the  mountains  upon  whose  tops  the  snow 
gHstened  for  many  a  league. 

Though  far  and  near  new  houses  were  rising 
upon  the  slopes,  the  evidences  of  prosperity  out- 
side pleased  many  a  visitor  far  less  than  the  evi- 
dences of  growth  in  the  town  itself.  Its  people, 
who  but  a  year  before  had  pointed  with  pride  to 
their  orchards  and  vineyards,  were  now  absorbed 
in  town-lot  speculation,  and  their  principal  talk 
was  of  advances  and  margins,  and  the  time  with- 
in which  money  could  be  doubled.  Orchards  the 
year  before  laden  with  golden  oranges  were  now 
white  with  stakes,  and  even  the  green  alfalfa 
patches,  with  the  little  Jersey  cow  tethered  upon 
them,  and  from  which  all  the  butter,  milk,  and 
eggs  the  family  could  use  came  from  a  single  acre, 
were  beginning  to  go  the  same  way.  From  every 
point  of  the  compass  rang  the  sound  of  the  ham- 
mer, and  every  day  new  people  from  the  East 
were  coming  and  buying  and  building.  He  who 
went  there  in  one  of  those  spring  days,  when  all 
vegetation  far  and  near  was  in  the  heyday  of  life, 
when  the  whole  landscape  was  aglow  with  such 
color  as  he  had  never  imagined  could  arise  from 
an  untilled  garden,  when  the  air  was  laden  with 


THE  BEGINNING   OF   THE   BOOM.  55 

fragrance  and  the  evening  sun  was  firing  with  rosy 
flame  the  white  spires  that  towered  a  mile  or 
more  above  him,  was  quite  apt  to  think  less  about 
the  productive  power  of  the  soil  than  about  what 
some  one  else  would  pay  for  a  small  piece  of  it 
before  another  year. 

But  many  a  one  withstood  successfully  all  the 
temptations  of  the  different  sections,  and  felt  a 
supreme  indifference  for  all  he  saw.  Many  more 
saw  nothing,  made  no  attempt  to  see  anything, 
and  would  not  have  known  it  if  they  had  seen 
anything  different  from  the  country  in  which  they 
had  grown  up.  Many  another  was  enraptured 
with  the  climate  and  scenery  and  wrote  silly  let- 
ters home  about  Paradises  and  "  regular  little 
Edens,"  but  the  strings  of  his  purse  relaxed  not. 
For  all  such  the  auction  which  had  just  been  in- 
troduced in  Los  Angeles  by  some  professional 
boomers  from  Chicago  and  other  points  was  ad- 
mirably adapted. 


$6  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  K 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    SHEARING   OF  THE   LAMBS. 

The  Californians  have  been  accused  of  shear- 
ing a  drove  of  innocent  lambs  from  the  East.  If 
true,  this  would  have  been  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting features  of  the  times ;  for,  as  we  shall  see, 
the  lambs  afterward  sheared  the  shearers  in 
charming  style.  But  the  sad  and  homely  truth 
is,  that  nearly  all  the  innocents  were  wise  and  suc- 
cessful men,  who  insisted  on  being  shorn.  All 
through  the  boom  the  golden  fleece  was  willingly 
shed,  and  the  shearing  was  about  in  the  manner 
following. 

It  was  in  the  latter  part  of  March,  1886,  that 
with  step  sedate  and  nose  upturned  in  lofty  con- 
tempt for  everything  in  California  except  the  cli- 
mate, Mr.  Brown,  a  wealthy  merchant  from  New 
York,  was  pacing  the  pavement  in  Los  Angeles 
anxiously  awaiting  the  day  when  the  almanac 
should  inform  him  that  it  was  warm  enough  in 
New  York  to  return.     Outside  of  New  York  he 


THE   SHEAJiljVG   OF    THE  LAMBS.  57 

knew  next  to  nothing,  and  could  see  nothing  in 
Cahfornia  worthy  of  his  notice  except  the  chmate, 
which  he  was  gracious  enough  to  pronounce  "very 
fine."  He  found  himself  lingering  instead  of  re- 
turning, and  though  resolving  every  day  to  start 
for  home  on  the  next  day,  there  was  something 
in  the  soft  air  and  bright  sunshine  that  still  kept 
him. 

A  crash  of  brass  and  drums  aroused  him  from 
his  reverie  of  home  as  down  the  street  came  an 
omnibus  filled  with  a  brass  band.  Huge  placards 
of  cloth  on  the  outside  of  the  omnibus  announced 
a  grand  auction  sale  of  choice  lots  at  "  Excelsior 
Heights."  Whereat  the  smoothly-shaven  upper 
lip  of  the  great  merchant  curled  in  wise  disdain. 
But  the  curling  process  stopped  suddenly  short  of 
completion,  changed  for  an  instant  with  the  ten- 
sion of  deep  meditation,  and  then  to  the  indrawn 
tightness  of  resolution.  What  wrought  the  won- 
drous change  deponent  saith  not,  but  he  doth 
solemnly  aver  that  at  the  bottom  of  the  cloth 
placard  in  large  red  letters  were  the  words : 

"  A  free  ride  and  a  free  lunch." 

Another  hour  found  Mr.  Brown  at  "  Excelsior 
Heights,"  nearly  a  mile  out  of  the  city.  A  brass 
band  of  some  thirty  pieces  was  storming  the  zenith. 


58  MILLIOA'AIRES   OF  A    DA  Y. 

the  performers  resplendent  in  purple  and  gold  and 
glittering  helmets,  with  a  drum-major,  lost  in 
swathings  and  bandings  of  scarlet  and  blue,  twirl- 
ing a  gilded  staff  beneath  a  bale  of  crimson  wool, 
while  a  caterer  in  dress-suit,  with  white  neckt:ie 
and  diamond  pin,  was  bustling  to  and  fro  prepar- 
ing a  sumptuous  lunch. 

Hundreds  of  people  were  already  on  the  ground, 
and  barouches  and  broughams,  drawn  by  sleek 
horses  in  silver-plated  harness  driven  by  combi- 
nations of  silk  hats,  white  neckties,  and  dogskin 
gloves,  were  steadily  unloading  fat  old  bankers 
with  their  wives  and  daughters,  retired  merchants 
and  stock-brokers,  grain-dealers,  liquor-dealers, 
lawyers  and  doctors,  nearly  all  of  whom,  like  Mr. 
Brown,  had  come  out  for  a  picnic  at  the  expense 
of  a  stranger.  None  of  them  seemed  to  think 
there  was  anything  mean  in  thus  accepting  the 
hospitality  of  the  stranger  when  they  had  not  the 
remotest  idea  of  buying  anything.  And,  strangely 
enough,  the  owner  of  the  property  did  not  think 
there  was  anything  mean  about  it  either ;  for  he 
smiled  and  rubbed  his  hands  as  he  looked  over 
this  portion  of  the  crowd.  These  folks  seemed 
to  give  him  far  more  satisfaction  than  dozens  of 


THE   SHEARING   OF    THE  LAMBS.  59 

others  who  wore  a  business  air,  but  httle  evidence 
of  superfluous  weahh. 

The  auctioneer,  arrayed  in  costly  garb,  w^as  an 
ex-minister  of  the  Gospel  who  had  been  lured  from 
the  path  of  duty  by  the  superior  attractions  of  the 
rising  real-estate  market  as  compared  with  the 
size  of  his  salary,  and  lacked  the  ripe  experience 
of  the  owner  of  the  property,  an  old  hand  from  the 
East  who  had  lately  bought  it  on  an  option  with  a 
small  payment  down,  and  purposed  making  some 
money  out  of  it  before  the  time  for  the  next  pay- 
ment came  around. 

"  Picknickers,  all  of  them.  Out  for  a  free  ride 
and  a  free  lunch,'"  said  the  auctioneer  to  the 
owner  with  visible  disgust.  "  They  know  no  more 
of  California  than  a  mule  knows  about  thorough- 
bred horses." 

"  Exactly  what  I  want.  They  think  they  are 
doing  something  smart.  You  handle  the  boys 
right  and  I'll  chance  the  results,"  said  the  owner. 

The  ex-parson  was  right.  The  greater  part  of 
the  crowd  consisted  of  mere  tourists  who  for  the 
first  time  in  California  had  set  foot  outside  the 
pavement,  and  knew  just  as  much  about  the 
country  as  the  great  American  tourist  generally 
knows  about  any  country.     This  tourist  is  a  rare 


6o  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

creature,  especially  in  California.  Most  of  the 
time  he  sits  in  the  cars  with  his  eyes  lost  in  a 
novel  or  pack  of  cards  or  in  the  depths  of  some 
fair  companion's  eyes.  While  the  train  is  running 
almost  in  the  shadow  of  such  mountains  as  he 
never  saw  before — mountains  that  tower  above  the 
country  at  their  feet  higher  any  other  mountains 
in  the  United  States,  running,  too,  through  a  land 
where  almost  every  herb  and  shrub  and  flower  and 
tree  and  bird  and  animal  is  new  to  him,  he  rarely 
takes  the  trouble  to  glance  out  of  the  window. 
But  let  the  train  whistle  for  a  station,  and  quickly 
he  drops  the  novel  or  cards,  and  out  goes  his  head 
from  the  window  to  stare  at  a  house  or  hotel  or 
something  else  that  he  could  see  just  as  well  in 
ten  thousand  other  cities  in  the  United  States. 
Of  such  material  is  the  chap  who  writes  up  Cali- 
fornia in  the  Eastern  papers,  especially  the  one 
who  is  sent  for  that  purpose  because  he  is  disin- 
terested. He  generally  begins  to  scribble  as  soon 
as  he  reaches  his  hotel,  takes  a  run  around  a 
few  blocks  in  the  center  of  town  in  the  morning, 
and  leaves  on  the  evening  train  to  decide  with 
equal  speed  the  fate  of  some  other  place. 

Rut  the  owner  of  the  property  was  also  right. 
No  Californian   he,  verdant  enough  to  trust  prop- 


THE   SHEARING    OF    THE  LAMBS.  6 1 

erty  at  an  auction  to  its  naked  merits.  Right 
well  he  knew  that  real  estate  was  very  different 
from  old  furniture  and  old  horses,  and  instead  of 
selling  for  more  than  it  is  worth  Avill  sell  for  less, 
unless  the  judgment  of  the  buyers  is  judiciously 
assisted.  He  was  an  old-time  boomer,  and  had 
lately  come  to  California  because  he  fancied  he 
heard  the  rumble  of  a  coming  boom.  The  natives 
knew  nothing  until  such  new-comers  taught  them, 
and  even  after  they  learned  they  rarely  bettered 
the  instruction  of  the  new  varieties  of  teachers 
that  kept  constantly  coming  with  the  latest  East- 
ern ideas. 

Mr.  Brown  soon  discovered  that  there  were 
many  other  wealthy  people  present.  He  never 
imagined  that  any  of  them  were  shrewd  enough  to 
do  as  he  did,  and  have  a  picnic  at  the  expense  of 
some  one  else.  He  thought  all  the  rest  had  come 
out  purposely  to  buy,  and  that  they  seemed  bent 
on  buying  something.  Under  the  inspiring  strains 
of  the  music  and  the  congenial  atmosphere  of 
wealth  his  thoughts  began  to  expand,  his  eyes  for 
a  moment  actually  wandered  away  from  the  bank- 
ers and  roamed  over  the  landscape.  He  saAv  for  the 
first  time  the  brilliant  slopes  that  rolled  away  to 
the  distant  ocean,  and  the  great  islands  of  Santa 


62  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DA  Y. 

Catalina  and  San  Clemente  rising  darkly  green 
from  the  vast,  shimmering  plain.  On  the  land 
between,  the  ripening  grain  and  the  slender  wild- 
oats  rippled  beneath  the  sea-breeze  in  an  undulat- 
ing glow  of  silvery  light,  and  where  the  alfileria  and 
clover  carpeted  the  slope  they  were  starred  with  a 
thousand  points  of  varied  colors.  The  orchards 
that  rose  above  the  wavy  land  were  now  a  mass 
of  white  and  pink  and  the  vineyards  rivaled  in 
brightness  the  rest  of  the  green  beside  them. 

As  Mr.  Brown  gazed  upon  the  scene  he  sud- 
denly remembered  that  in  his  boyhood  he  had 
been  in  the  country,  and  had  seen  some  land  that 
afterward  had  a  city  upon  it.  It  suddenly  oc- 
curred to  him  that  some  day  this  country  might 
be  worth  something,  that  Los  Angeles  might  pos- 
sibly grow,  and  if  it  did,  the  tract  now  offered 
for  sale  might  be  worth  something.  Whereupon 
faintly  dawned  upon  his  mind  the  idea  that  hand- 
ing out  dry-goods  over  a  New  York  counter  was 
not  the  only  way  of  making  some  money. 

Like  all  property  at  that  time  on  the  market, 
"  Excelsior  Heights"  was  first-class,  and  will  bring 
to-day,  unimproved,  ten  times  what  was  then  paid 
for  it,  and  that  after  two  and  a  half  years  of  steady 
decline.     Still  the  owner  was  too  old  a  real-estate 


THE   SHEARING  OF   THE  LAMBS.  ^l 

operator  to  entrust  land  to  its  intrinsic  merit 
alone  at  an  auction  on  any  kind  of  a  market.  He 
knew  by  long  experience  that  the  race  of  real- 
estate  buyers  are  the  silliest  of  sheep,  and  need 
leading  even  to  their  own  good.  And  the  auc- 
tioneer had  been  so  often  impressed  with  the  sheep- 
like nature  of  man  while  trying  to  lead  another 
kind  of  sheep  to  another  kind  of  welfare,  that  he 
had  no  scruples  about  inveigling  the  crowd  into 
what  his  conscience  told  him  was  really  a  fine 
bargain.  So  he  had  a  dozen  assistants  distributed 
judicioijsly  about  the  audience,  none  of  whom 
were  supposed  to  know  one  another  or  the  auc- 
tioneer. Some  were  provided  with  gold  coin  to 
jingle  on  the  table  when  they  made  their  payments, 
while  others  who  looked  like  business  men  had 
their  check-books  in  their  coat  pockets.  All  ap- 
peared deeply  verdant,  and  asked  numerous  ques- 
tions about  the  country,  its  resources  and  pros- 
pects before  the  sale  began. 

After  the  band  had  nearly  raised  the  roof  off  an 
immense  live-oak  under  which  they  were  stationed 
to  protect  the  head  of  the  drum-major  from  the 
sun,  the  auctioneer^^mounted  the  stand,  announced 
the  terms  of  sale,  and  pointing  to  a  large  cloth 


64  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DA  Y. 

map  on  which  a  boy  had  located  a  lot  with  a  long 
fishing-pole,  said  : 

"  Now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  here  is  one  of  the 
finest  lots  in  the  whole  tract,  with  the  privilege  of 
taking  the  next  two,  one  of  them  the  corner,  at 
the  same  price.     Give  me  a  bid  now,  quick." 

"A  hundred  dollars,"  called  out  a  middle-aged 
man  in  gold  spectacles,  silk  hat,  and  toothpick 
shoes. 

All  eyes  were  quickly  turned  upon  him.  But 
he  stood  their  gaze  without  flinching.  None  sus- 
pected that  he  was  an  assistant.  But  he  was,  and 
had  been  in  such  haste  to  bid  for  fear  the  owner 
of  some  rival  addition  would  bid  only  five  or  ten 
dollars  so  as  to  spoil  the  sale,  that  he  forgot  his 
instructions  and  bid  fifty  dollars  less  than  he  had 
been  told. 

"  I  am  not  selling  you  this  map,"  said  the  auc- 
tioneer quickly,  with  withering  tone.  "  It  is  a 
fifty-foot  lot  I  am  offering  you.  This  map  is 
only  a  reduced  picture  of  it." 

"  One  hundred  and  fifty,"  said,  quietly  and  with 
the  solemn  dignity  becoming  a  genuine  buyer  of 
wealth  and  standing,  another  man  attired  in  trim 
broadcloth. 

"  One  hundred  and  fifty  only  ?  Why,  gentlemen, 


THE   SHEARING   OF    THE  LAMBS.  65 

this  is  positively  ridiculous.  These  lots  will  bring 
a  thousand  dollars  a  piece  in  less  than  six  months. 
Still,  they  have  got  to  go.  This  sale  is  positively 
without  reserve,"  said  the  auctioneer  with  an  air 
of  despondency.  "One  fifty,  fifty,  fifty;  give  us 
two  hundred  now,  quick." 

"  I  believe  I  will  try  that  just  for  a  flyer,"  said 
a  thin-lipped  man  of  some  sixty  years  as  he 
scratched  a  smoothly  shaven  chin  with  a  gold 
eyeglass.     "  One  fifty-five,"  he  called  out. 

"  Vy  dot  vos  olt  Squeems,  de  richest  banker  in 
Chicago.  You  bet  he  knows  vot's  goot,"  remarked 
to  his  neighbor  a  fat,  red-faced  man  with  pendu- 
lous cheeks  acting  as  saddle-bags  to  a  bulbous 
nose.  "  Hoondert  and  sixty,"  he  called  out  after 
a  moment's  meditation. 

"  Hullo !  That's  old  Katzenjammer  of  Mil- 
waukee, one  of  the  biggest  brewers  in  the  city," 
said  Mr.  Milton,  a  wealthy  merchant  from  St. 
Paul,  to  his  wife.  "  He  is  a  mighty  shrewd  buyer, 
too.  Just  for  fun,  I  will  see  how  bad  he  wants 
that  lot.  It's  good  property  anyhow,  and  I  can't 
lose  anything  on  it  if  it  is  knocked  down  to  me. 
I  don't  know  but  what  it  would  be  well  to  invest 
a  little  here  anyway."  "  One  hundred  and  seventy," 
he  called  out  to  the  auctioneer. 


(:6  MILLIOS'AIRES  OF  A    DA  V. 

For  a  moment  no  one  seemed  inclined  to  bid 
higher,  and  the  time  for  the  assistants  came 
around  again.  It  had  been  understood  that  two 
hundred  dollars  was  as  high  as  it  was  safe  to  at- 
tempt to  raise  prices,  and  the  price  was  now  so 
near  the  top  that  it  had  to  be  raised  very  ten- 
derly. So  one  of  the  assistants  who  looked  like 
a  banker  shouted  out,  "A  hundred  and  seventy- 
five." 

"  One  seventy-five,  five,  five,  five,"  rattled  the 
auctioneer.  "  iV^^^fr^^posterous,  gentlemen  !"  he 
cried.  "  Why,  if  this  property  was  mine  I  would 
stop  this  slaughter  right  off.  But  the  owner  has 
advertised  it  without  reserve,  and  he  is  one  of 
those  men  who  are  fools  enough  to  keep  their 
word  for  the  sake  of  being  called  honest.  I  am 
a  pretty  good  judge  of  honesty  myself,  and  there 
is  no  law  human  or  divine  that  requires  a  man  to 
throw  away  his  property  because  he  has  been 
weak  enough  to  assume  that  people  will  know  a 
bargain  when  they  see  it." 

"  Pretty  good  property  this,  I  declare,"  re- 
marked Mr.  Brown,  looking  around  the  landscape 
again  after  he  had  overheard  the  remark  of  the 
fat  man  from  Milwaukee  about  the  Chicago 
banker.     But  still  he  did  not  bid. 


THE    SHEARING   OF    THE   LAMBS.  6/ 

"  One  eighty,"  called  out  banker  Squeems  after 
remarking  loud  enough  for  several  to  hear : 
"  There  is  no  mistake  about  it.  Los  Angeles  is 
going  to  be  quite  a  city,  and  very  soon  too." 

"Why  don't  you  buy  it?"  asked  the  wife  of  a 
tristful-visaged,  watery-eyed  man  who  looked  as 
if  he  had  been  weeping  all  night  over  the  loss  of 
a  dime. 

"  Fiddlesticks  !  This  country  is  good  for  noth- 
ing but  climate,"  he  replied. 

"  O,  you  think  nothing  is  any  good  that's  over 
a  mile  from  Delmonico's,"  said  his  wife.  "This 
is  a  nice  country,  and  I  want  a  lot  here.  Just 
hear  the  dear  little  birds  sing.  The  flowers  smell 
so  sweet,  too." 

"  Nonsense,  my  dear;  those  things  don't  make 
any  money.  I  am  a  better  judge  of  such  things 
than  you  are,"  he  said,  as  the  lot  was  knocked  off. 
The  price  had  risen  so  near  the  critical  point  that 
none  of  the  assistants  dared  to  raise  it  any  higher, 
and  it  went  to  the  fat  brewer  for  one  hundred 
and  ninety  dollars.  Yet  even  as  he  spoke  in  such 
contempt  the  watery  eye  of  the  man  wandered 
over  the  land  around,  and  his  ears,  hitherto  deaf 
to  all  but  the  jingle  of  another  dollar,  were  sud- 
denly open  to  all  its  sounds. 


68  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DA  Y. 

It  was  one  of  those  days  so  softly  clear,  so 
mildly  bright,  that  characterize  the  greater  part 
of  March  in  this  country ;  making  the  sharpest  of 
contrasts  with  the  leaden  skies  and  howling  blasts 
of  the  East.  A  medley  of  colors  was  blazing  over 
hill  and  dale,  acres  of  poppies  with  lustrous  orange 
tints,  acres  of  golden  violets  whose  fragrance 
filled  the  breeze,  everywhere  the  delicate  pink  of 
the  alfileria  and  the  tender  blue  of  innumerable 
bell-flowers,  with  white  and  scarlet  and  purple 
rolling  in  gay  confusion  over  the  plains  and  up 
the  feet  of  the  hills  to  where  the  crimson  of  the 
wild  pea,  the  lavender  of  the  lilac,  and  the  carmine 
of  the  wild  gooseberry  lit  up  the  dark  green  of 
the  chapparal.  As  he  looked  over  this,  while  soft 
gurgling  notes  filled  his  ear  from  where  the  yellow 
breast  of  the  lark  shone  amid  the  living  green  of 
the  heteromcles,  with  the  mocking-bird  rolling 
out  his  soul  from  the  orange-tree  in  the  neighbor- 
ing dooryard,  and  the  twitter  of  the  linnet  com- 
ing fast  and  furious  from  the  blooming  almond, 
while  the  oriole  joined  the  chorus  from  the  live- 
oak  close  by,  and  the  thrush  chimed  in  from  the 
adjoining  chapparal,  he  was  carried  back  to  his 
early  days  when  the  sweet  carol  of  the  robin 
and  the  bubbling  joy  of  the  bobolink  made  the 


THE    SHEARING   OF    THE  LAMBS.  69 

world  seem  brighter  and  fairer  than  it  had  ever 
seemed  since. 

"  Well,  my  dear,"  he  said  at  length,  with  the 
reserve  becoming  the  importance  of  wealth  that 
may  possibly  have  to  confess  itself  mistaken, 
"  this  may  possibly  amount  to  something  some 
day,  but  I  guess  we  had  better  see  how  things 
sell  before  investing." 

But  Mr.  Brown  was  still  obdurate.  With  the 
composure  of  independent  wealth  he  saw  a  choice 
corner  started  at  one  hundred  and  sixty  dollars, 
and  gently  raised  a  few  dollars  at  a  time  by  the 
"  cappers"  whenever  there  was  any  lagging  in  the 
bidding.  At  last  the  fat  brewer  and  banker 
Squeems  were  bidding  against  one  another  ;  the 
assistants  at  once  left  them  the  field,  and  it  was 
soon  knocked  ofT  to  the  banker  at  two  hundred 
dollars.  Like  many  another  smart  man,  the 
banker  thought  he  could  tell  whether  any  "  cap- 
pers" were  being  used  at  the  sale  or  not.  And 
like  many  another  smart  man,  he  never  suspected 
that  he  was  himself  being  used  as  one.  But  he 
was  an  old  acquaintance  of  the  owner  of  the 
property.  Now,  if  there  is  any  man  on  earth 
Avho  is  kind  and  considerate  to  an  old  friend  from 
the  East,  it  is  the  man  who  has  lived  a  few  months 


70  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

in  California.  A  man  whom  you  knew  in  the  East 
as  a  mere  speaking  acquaintance  seems  Hke  a 
long-lost  brother,  provided  you  have  real  estate 
to  sell.  In  fact  a  speaking  acquaintance  is  not 
always  necessary.  You  may  have  cut  him  there 
for  some  very  good  reason,  but  all  the  same  when 
he  comes  here  your  arms  naturally  open  to  renew 
the  acquaintance,  provided  always  that  he  has 
some  money.  The  feeling  of  the  other  is  very 
analogous.  You  seem  to  him  like  an  American 
in  a  foreign  country;  and  if  he  ever  knew  you  as 
a  man  who  has  made  some  money  some  time,  he 
reposes  in  you  much  of  the  same  trustful  confi- 
dence that  you  would  in  a  fellow-countryman  in 
the  wilds  of  the  Congo.  The  owner  of  the  prop- 
erty had  soon  discovered  that  the  banker  was  in 
town,  and  had  told  him,  if  he  saw  anything  nice 
at  the  auction  that  showed  any  prospect  of  turn- 
ing a  few  honest  dollars  before  he  returned  to  the 
East,  to  bid  it  off  and  hold  it  for  a  rise.  He  need 
not  pay  a  cent  on  it,  but  merely  write  a  check  in 
such  a  way  that  it  would  be  worthless,  and  hand  it 
in  to  the  clerk  of  the  auctioneer.  Such  things 
were  necessary  for  appearance's  sake,  but  he  would 
see  that  the  check  was  destroyed.  Nothing  can 
cement  the  renewal  of  an  old  friendship  like  such 


THE   SHEARING   OF    THE   LAMBS.  f  I 

an  offer  as  this.  Your  modern  rich  man  is  tickled 
with  such  concession  to  his  greatness.  No  one 
would  think  of  making  such  an  offer  to  a  poor 
mau,  not  even  to  a  poor  relation.  But  it  is  the 
right  of  the  rich  man  to  pick  up  a  few  dollars  at 
the  expense  of  some  one  else  without  risking  a 
cent  of  his  own  money. 

Bidding  now  became  more  spirited,  and  some 
small  fry  began  to  buy.  But  Mr.  Brown  and  the 
watery-eyed  man  still  kept  aloof.  Several  lots 
were  sold  at  from  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
to  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  dollars,  when 
banker  Squeems  startled  the  crowd  by  bidding  in 
a  lot  for  one  hundred  and  seventy,  and  announc 
ing  that  he  would  take  the  rest  of  the  block  at 
the  same  price.  The  auctioneer,  who  was  getting 
a  fat  commission  on  the  gross  amount  of  the 
genuine  sales,  smiled  internally,  and  was  about  to 
offer  another  lot  when  the  owner  of  the  property 
suddenly  pulled  him  down  by  the  coat-tail  and 
took  him  one  side. 

"  What  the  duce  are  you  at  ?"  whispered  the 
owner.  "  That  is  old  Squeems,  one  of  the  richest 
bankers  in  the  West.  Get  up  an  excuse  to  ad- 
journ for  lunch  right  away.  Have  the  Major 
.scrape  acquaintance  with  him,  and  introduce  him 


72  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

to  some  of  the  crowd.     It  won't  do  for  you  or  me 
to  be  seen  talking  with  him." 

An  intermission  for  lunch  soon  followed,  during 
which  those  who  came  with  the  full  intention  of 
buying  nothing  crowded  out  more  actual  buyers, 
upset  more  coffee,  soiled  more  sandwiches,  and 
broke  more  crockery  than  all  the  rest.  During 
lunch  it  was  noised  about  that  the  richest  banker 
in  Chicago,  and  the  richest  beer  brewer  in  Mil- 
waukee, and  Mr.  Mason,  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful manufacturers  in  St.  Louis,  were  among  the 
principal  buyers.  Though  Mr.  Brown  pricked  up 
his  ears  at  the  mention  of  the  two  latter  names 
he  still  maintained  nobly  the  exclusivcness  of  his 
exalted  station.  But  Western  men  are  less  exclu- 
sive, and  Mr.  Mason  introduced  himself  to  banker 
Squeems,  and  banker  Squeems,  who  had  already  in- 
troduced himself  to  Herr  Katzenjammer  (because 
being  rich  and  living  on  the  same  lake  they  felt  like 
neighbors),  introduced  him  to  Herr  K.;  wealth 
being  a  sufificient  foundation  for  mutual  confi- 
dence and  mutual  admiration.  The  three  stood 
in  a  triangle  after  lunch,  Mr.  Mason  sitting  on  the 
head  of  his  cane  picking  his  teeth  with  his  knife, 
while  a  diamond  sparkled  on  his  extended  little 
finger;  banker  Squeems,  in  deep  meditation,  trying 


THE    SHEARING   OF    THE  LAMBS.  73 

to  dig  out  a  gopher  with  the  toe  of  his  boot ;  and 
Herr  K.,  with  his  thumbs  in  his  vest  pockets, 
fondhng  with  his  fingers  the  dome  of  his  abdomen. 
It  was  unanimously  agreed  by  the  triumvirate 
that  the  property  was  all  right,  that  Los  Angeles 
was  certain  to  be  a  large  city,  and  this  addition 
was  to  be  one  of  the  finest  portions  of  the  whole. 
A  ring  of  listeners  had  gathered  around  them 
drinking  in  the  weighty  wisdom  they  dispensed, 
on  the  outskirts  of  which  Mr.  Brown  and  the 
watery-eyed  man,  who  was  a  capitalist  from  New 
York,  lingered  with  aristocratic  exclusiveness. 

As  the  triumvirate  decided  the  fate  of  the  city, 
and  the  land  generally,  a  dozen  or  more  people  in 
the  surrounding  crowd  began  to  look  over  the 
country  around  them,  and  to  discover  that  there 
was  something  in  California  besides  climate.  A 
capitalist  from  Boston  suddenly  remembered  that 
he  had  seen  some  orange-groves  somewhere  near 
by,  and  another  recollected  that  out  of  the  car- 
window  he  had  seen  something  that  might  have 
been  fields  of  grain.  Banker  Squeems  passed  a 
favorable  judgment  on  the  soil  that  he  was  up- 
turning with  his  foot,  and  soon  a  dozen  others 
were  scratching  up  some  of  it ;  and  a  solid  old 
lawyer  from  Philadelphia,  who  didn't  know  beans 


74  AIILI.IONAIKES   OF  A    DA  V. 

from  barley,  pronounced  it  a  very  suitable  soil  for 
oranges. 

"  I  am  really  ashamed  of  this  morning's  work," 
said  the  auctioneer  as  he  mounted  the  stand  again 
after  lunch.  "  I  have  spent  the  better  part  of  my 
life  in  trying  to  lead  men  to  higher  things.  I  re- 
gret to  say  that,  owing  to  the  perversity  of  human 
nature,  I  made  a  failure  of  it  in  one  line.  But  I 
am  bound  to  succeed,  and  if  I  can't  do  better  in 
my  present  calling  there  will  be  nothing  left  for 
me  but  to  turn  hangman,  in  which  case  I  shall  be 
most  happy  to  officiate  for  any  of  you  gentlemen 
with  whom  I  can't  succeed  to-day.  Do  your  duty 
now,  and  we'll  close  out  this  batch  of  lots  quicker 
than  a  squaw  can  knock  out  a  watermelon." 

"  Do  you  really  want  that,  my  dear  ?"  said  the 
watery-eyed  man  to  his  wife  as  a  fine  corner  was 
offered. 

"Oh  yes!  Do  buy  it.  I  think  it  is  just  lovely 
here." 

"  You  know  I  am  always  glad  to  do  anything 
to  please  you,  and  if  we  should  lose  the  money  it 
won't  ruin  us.  l^ut  if  we  are  going  to  risk  any- 
thing at  all  we  might  as  well  have  a  piece  large 
enough  to  be  of  some  use  in  case  the  investment 
should  turn  out  well,"  he  said. 


THE    SHEARIXG   OF   THE   LAMBS.  75 

Whereupon  he  began  to  bid.  Instead  of  offer- 
ing an  inside  lot  with  the  privilege  of  the  corner 
at  the  same  price,  the  auctioneer,  who  with  the 
owner,  had  been  gauging  the  verdancy  of  the 
crowd  during  lunch,  had  now  offered  a  corner 
with  the  privilege  of  buying  the  next  two  inside 
lots  at  the  same  price.  The  watery-eyed  man 
seated  himself  broadly  in  the  trap,  bid  off  the 
corner  at  a  hundred  and  ninety-five  dollars,  and 
took  the  next  two  lots  at  the  same  figure. 

From  this  time  until  sundown  sales  were  rapid, 
and  when  the  auction  closed  one  fifth  of  the  prop- 
erty had  been  sold  to  genuine  buyers  for  more 
than  the  owner  had  paid  for  the  whole  of  it.  But 
Mr.  Brown  remained  obdurately  wrapped  in  his 
individuality.  He  had  reached  the  conclusion  that 
the  property  would  some  day  be  valuable,  but  at 
present  he  had  no  use  for  it. 

The  sale  of  the  property  was  continued  from 
the  map  at  the  office  of  the  owner  in  town.  And 
next  morning  the  lower  limbs  of  Mr.  Brown  in 
some  mysterious  manner  carried  him  in  his  morn- 
ing walk  directly  toward  the  office.  He  saw  a 
number  of  genuine  buyers  gathered  around  the 
map,  and  they  wore  such  good  clothes  and  looked 
so  much  like  men  of  means,  that  he  felt  a  violent 


7^  MILLIONAIRES  OP  A    DA  Y. 

inclination  to  go  in  and  see  what  they  were  doing. 
He  was  still  quite  certain  that  he  did  not  want 
to  buy.  He  was  only  curious  to  know  how  the 
property  was  selling.     So  in  he  walked. 

He  found  several  purchasers  of  the  day  before 
not  only  completing  their  payments  but  buying 
more  lots.  And  it  was  evident  that  none  of  them 
had  yet  had  time  to  see  the  abstract  of  title  to 
the  land,  or  even  cared  to  sec  it,  though  it  was 
announced  that  it  was  at  the  ofifice  of  one  of  the 
leading  attorneys,  with  his  opinion  attached  to  it. 
After  staring  at  the  crowd  for  a  few  minutes  Mr. 
Brown  made  the  further  discovery  that  new  par- 
ties were  buying,  and  buying  lots  too  of  which 
they  not  only  knew  nothing  about  the  title,  but 
which  they  had  not  even  seen,  and  knew  nothing 
about  the  location  of,  except  from  the  map. 
They  were  genuine  buyers,  so  well  satisfied  that 
they  did  not  care  about  either  title  or  location. 

While  Mr.  Brown  was  watching  the  buyers  with 
increasing  interest,  and  coming  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  property  must  be  something  unusually 
good  to  make  such  well-dressed  people  in  such 
haste  to  get  some  of  it,  Hcrr  Katzenjammcr,  who 
had  been  duly  breakfasted  and  shaved  at  the  hour 
becoming  a  man  of  wealth  on  his  travels,  waddled 


THE    SHEARING   OF   THE   LAMBS.  77 

into  the  office,  and  concluaed  that  he  would  take 
a  few  more  lots  adjoining  those  he  had  bought. 
Banker  Squeems,  who  had  happened  in  a  few 
minutes  before,  and  was  looking  over  the  map, 
pulled  the  owner  aside,  and  in  a  low  voice  said, 

"  I  really  like  this  town,  and  believe  those  lots 
are  a  good  investment.  I  will  take  them  to  keep, 
and  pay  up  on  them  if  you  will  let  me  in  on 
the  cellar-floor.  You  know  I  bid  pretty  high  on 
them  yesterday  so  as  to  help  you  out  a  little." 

"It  wouldn't  do,  you  know,  to  lower  the  price," 
said  the  owner,  gently  stroking  his  chin.  "  But  I 
can  of  course  allow  you  a  commission  on  the  sale 
to  yourself,  the  same  as  if  you  had  found  me  an- 
other buyer  for  them." 

The  eyes  of  the  banker  brightened  at  once ; 
for  if  there  is  anything  that  pleases  the  modern 
millionaire  in  a  boom,  it  is  the  recognition  of  his 
importance  involved  in  "letting  him  in  on  the 
commission."  So  the  trade  was  quickly  made  by 
allowing  twenty  per  cent  discount  on  the  price, 
and  calling  it  a  commission.  Mr.  Katzenjammer 
opened  his  eyes  as  he  saw  the  banker  buying  some 
more  lots,  as  he  supposed  ;  and  their  expansion 
was  increased  by  seeing  Mr.  Mason,  who  had 
just  come  in^  violently  interested  in  the  part  of 


78  MILLIOXAIKES   OF  A    DA  V. 

the  map  adjoining  the  lots  bouglit  by  the  banker. 
Herr  K.  waddled  out  into  an  adjoining  saloon 
and  ingulfed  two  schooners  of  beer,  waddled 
into  the  office  again  and  looked  around  awhile, 
waddled  out  and  swamped  a  third  schooner  at  a 
single  gulp,  then  came  in  and  bought  half  a  block 
next  the  block  the  banker  had  taken. 

Mr.  Mason  now  delivered  himself  of  the  very- 
sage  remark,  that  if  one  is  going  to  gamble  on 
these  things  at  all,  one  might  as  well  have  enough 
to  make  something  on  in  case  one  wins,  and  told 
the  owner  that  if  he  would  change  the  lots  he  had 
bought  the  day  before  to  another  block,  he  would 
take  half  of  the  block.  The  owner  consented  very 
reluctantly,  because  the  block  Mason  wanted  was 
"extra  choice,"  and  he  really  didn't  care  to  sell 
any  more  of  the  best  blocks  at  present  prices. 
At  least  so  he  said.  But  he  also  added  that  he 
always  liked  to  please  his  first  customers,  because 
they  were  more  appreciative.  Whereupon  Mr. 
Mason  took  the  rest  of  the  block  of  which  the 
brewer  had  bought  half. 

"A  very  much  better  investment  than  it  seemed 
at  first.  Very  fine  property.  But  on  the  whole 
I  would  as  soon  have  my  money  in  dry-goods  on 


THE   SHEARING   OF    THE  LAMBS.  79 

my  shelves  in  New  Yawk,"  remarked  Mr.  Brown 
to  himself  as  he  walked  out. 

The  next  day  saw  him  at  the  office  again  watch- 
ing new  people  buy.  The  general  opinion  of  the 
buyers  was  that  the  property  was  the  very  finest 
in  the  city,  and  as  over  two  hundred  lots  had 
been  sold  since  the  auction,  prices  would  certainly 
advance  in  a  day  or  two. 

"  It's  all  right,  I  know,"  said  Mr.  Brown,  as  he 
walked  out.  "  But  dry-goods  in  New  Yawk  are 
good  enough  for  me." 

The  next  day  found  him  at  the  office  again. 
He  felt  a  strange  interest  in  the  outcome  of  the 
sale  for  which  he  could  not  account.  The  excite- 
ment was  increasing  some,  for  it  was  said  that 
the  brick  were  already  on  the  ground  for  a  new 
schoolhouse  which  the  owner  was  going  to  build 
at  once  and  give  to  the  city,  and  that  he  had  al- 
ready made  a  contract  with  the  gas  and  water 
companies  to  extend  their  mains  to  the  tract, 
and  that  he  was  now  busily  figuring  with  the 
street-car  company  to  have  the  road  extended 
there.  Mr.  B.  felt  more  interested  than  ever,  but 
nevertheless  he  walked  out,  making  to  himself 
some  remark  about  "  dry-goods  in  New  Yawk." 
He  didn't  hear  the  owner  call  "  the  Major  "  into 


8o  MILLION  AIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

his  back  room  and  tell  him  to  "  put  the  Colonel 
onto  that  beer  vat.  Run  him  down  to  his  hotel 
to-night,  and  give  him  three  hundred  for  his  bar- 
gain, and  go  him  five  if  necessary." 

While  inwardly  vowing  that  "  dry-goods  in  New 
Yavvk"were  the  safest  of  all  investments,  Mr. 
Brown  was  nevertheless  propelled  by  his  legs  the 
next  morning  to  the  real-estate  office  a  little 
faster  than  usual. 

Mr.  Katzenjammer,  clad  in  ruby  smile,  stood  in 
the  doorway,  fondly  patting  his  stomach  with  his 
fat  fingers. 

"  Veil,  I  make  already  my  exshpenses  on  dot 
leetle  shpeclation,"  he  said. 

"What!  have  you  sold  already?"  inquired  Mr. 
Brown  with  eyes  wide  open. 

"  O  yaas.  I  only  buy  'em  shoost  to  make  a 
leetle  durn.  I  always  like  to  make  my  exshpenses 
Venn  I  traffuls.  I  cleant  oop  fife  hoondert  dollar. 
I  make  some  more  yet  before  I  go  home." 
Whereupon  he  waddled  off  to  a  beer-saloon,  leav- 
ing Mr.  Brown  in  wonder  over  this  new  phase  of 
business.  He  had  thought  he  knew  all  about 
making  money.  But  the  idea  of  a  man  on  his 
travels  making  the  expenses  of  his  trip  out  of  the 
country  he  is  visiting,  and  with  scarcely  the  turn- 


THE   SHEARING   OF    THE  LAMBS.  8 1 

ing  of  his  finger,  was  something  ravishingly  unique. 
And  why  could  not  he,  a  great  and  successful 
trader,  do  it  as  well  as  this  coarse,  ignorant  rnan 
from  the  West,  who  knew  "  nothing  but  beer,  even 
if  he  is  rich "?  So  thought  Mr.  Brown  as  he 
walked  in. 

"  I  didn't  get  them  a  bit  too  quick,"  said  one  of 
two  men  to  the  other  as  they  passed  Mr.  Brown 
in  the  doorway  coming  out.  They  are  selling  like 
the  deuce  on  the  outside  now,  and  I  overheard 
the  General  telling  the  Commodore  that  he  was 
going  to  raise  prices  at  twelve  o'clock." 

Mr.  Brown  went  in  and  watched  the  crowd  for 
a  little  while.  When  he  came  out  he  had  nothing 
to  say  about  dry-goods  in  New  York.  A  serious 
air  of  business  mingled  with  a  smile  of  gratification 
was  on  his  face,  and  he  murmured  softly  to  him- 
self, "  While  I  am  about  it,  I  can  just  as  well 
make  my  wife's  expenses  at  the  same  time." 


82  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  V. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   SMILE   OF  THE   NATIVE. 

Somber  tints  began  to  overrun  the  land,  the 
grain-fields  and  the  wild-oats  were  yellowing  far 
and  wide,  the  alfileria  and  clovers  covered  with  a 
deep,  brown  mat  of  rich  fodder  the  slopes  they  so 
lately  carpeted  with  brilliant  green,  and  with  them 
in  the  embrace  of  death  lay  the  spangled  host  of 
poppies,  pinks,  violets,  and  other  early  flowers. 
The  summer  of  1886  was  coming,  and  with  it  an 
increasing  number  of  strangers.  People  who  a 
year  before  had  gone  back  with  contempt  for 
everything  in  California,  led  by  some  strange  im- 
pulse were  now  every  day  returning  and  buying 
property  at  two  or  three  times  what  they  could 
have  bought  it  for  the  year  before.  With  them 
came  another  class — people  who  had  been  here  be- 
fore and  liked  the  country  and  climate,  but  who 
could  not  afford  to  give  up  the  good  business 
they  had  at  home,  or  else  could  not  leave  their 
many  friends  and  live  so  far  away.     The  second 


THE    SMILE    OF    THE  NATIVE.  83 

or  third  year  sees  many  of  them  back  with  the 
proceeds  of  the  business  that  they  have  sold  out, 
and  the  friends  are  left  to  shift  for  themselves. 
Others  come  and  spend  a  few  weeks,  and  go  away 
with  no  definite  impressions  of  any  kind.  The 
next  season  sees  them  back,  lingering  farther  into 
the  spring,  and  saying  : 

"  I  don't  know  exactly  what  it  is,  but  there  is 
something  about  this  that  I  kind  o'  like." 

If  they  come  back  the  third  season  they  are 
quite  certain  to  become  fixtures.  These  classes 
have  gone  far  toward  building  up  California,  and 
they  now  came  faster  than  ever.  With  them 
came  capitalists,  speculators,  real-estate  agents, 
and  adventurers ;  also  a  goodly  crop  of  invalids 
and  tourists,  with  farmers  and  others  looking  for 
land  upon  which  to  make  an  easy  living  and  have 
some  money  over  at  the  end  of  the  year. 

But  the  majority  cared  nothing  about  the  solid 
resources  of  the  land,  and  were  looking  only  for 
amusement  or  a  chance  to  make  some  money 
without  work.  For  the  news  was  already  widely 
spread  in  the  East  that  the  land  was  "  booming," 
and  it  was  more  widely  spread  by  the  papers  in 
all  directions.  There  were  still  many  who  felt 
nothing  but  contempt  for  a  country  they  did  not 


84  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DA  V. 

understand  and  that  they  did  not  try  to  under- 
stand ;  but  the  majority  were  on  the  other  extreme, 
and  finding  the  land  rapidly  growing,  with  crops 
all  good  and  money  plenty,  fell  at  once  into  blind, 
unreasoning  love  with  it.  Hence  a  rapid  increase 
in  the  letters,  already  too  abundant  and  silly,  sent 
to  Eastern  papers.  East,  West,  North  and  South, 
Southern  California  was  absurdly  overpraised  in  a 
grand  splash  of  adjectives  and  adverbs  idiotically 
substituted  for  nouns  and  verbs  by  a  batch  of  men 
and  women  who  had  never  before  set  foot  beyond 
a  pavement,  and  did  not  know  enough  to  write 
facts  even  if  they  had  wanted  to.  And  the  worst 
of  the  lot  were  those  specially  sent  out  by  the 
large  Eastern  periodicals  because  they  are  "  disin- 
terested." Such  correspondents,  knowing  nothing 
about  the  country,  and  having  no  time  to  learn 
anything  about  it,  even  if  they  had  had  sense 
enough,  judged  the  land  only  by  its  pace  of  pros- 
perity, and  with  their  absurd  praise  did  it  more 
harm  than  if  they  had  stayed  at  home. 

And  the  summer  of  1886  came  on, — at  least  the 
almanac  said  so, — and  the  indigo  of  the  larkspur 
was  deepening  over  the  slopes  where  the  golden 
light  of  the  primrose  had  burned  away,  and  tulips 
of  lavender   and    tulips  of   golden   hue,  with  the 


THE   SMILE    OE    THE   NATIVE.  85 

bright-eyed  iris,  and  the  purple  and  pink  of  the 
penstemon  and  blue  phacelias,  were  rising  above 
the  grave  of  the  little  blue  lily  and  the  shooting- 
star.  Day  after  day  the  sun  climbed  a  cloudless 
arch,  and  fresh  and  cool  the  unfailing  breeze  came 
bounding  inland  from  over  the  blue  billows  of  the 
Pacific.  And  to  the  surprise  of  all  the  coming  of 
the  stranger  was  more  rapid  than  ever,  and  his 
satisfaction  with  all  he  found  was  greater  than 
ever.  As  had  always  been  the  case,  the  summer 
pleased  the  new-comers  more  than  the  winter. 
The  well-known  fact  that  San  Francisco  is  uncom- 
fortably cool  in  summer  might  have  taught  them 
that  the  same  cause — the  Arctic  current  in  the 
ocean — might  make  the  coast  a  few  hundred  miles 
south  about  right.  But  it  is  too  much  trouble  to 
reason  about  such  things,  and  the  surprise  one 
feels  in  finding  this  coast  so  much  cooler  in  sum- 
mer than  the  East  makes  many  a  one  fall  at  once 
in  love  with  it. 

By  the  middle  of  the  summer  Los  Angeles  was 
growing  at  the  rate  of  about  a  thousand  a  month, 
and  San  Diego  at  the  rate  of  about  five  hundred 
a  month.  The  deposits  in  the  banks  were  already 
several  times  the  amount  of  the  capital  stock,  and 
gold  was  more  plenty  on  the  streets  than  silver  in 


86  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

ordinary  times.  For  propcrt)'  was  selling  every- 
day in  all  directions,  and  selling  generally  for  cash; 
the  time  of  buying  on  a  large  margin  having  not 
yet  arrived,  except  in  a  few  places  where  the  auc- 
tion system  was  alrcad}'  in  use. 

Santa  Barbara  and  Ventura  counties  were  grow- 
ing slowly,  but  still  steadily  and  in  a  substantial 
way,  with  no  excitement.  Orange  County,  then 
a  part  of  Los  Angeles  County,  was  growing  some- 
what faster,  but  as  yet  with  no  excitement  or  non- 
sense. San  Bernardino  County  was  growing  still 
faster,  but  upon  a  perfectly  sound  basis.  People 
there  looked  upon  the  stranger  as  a  valuable  dis- 
pensation, but  placed  no  dependence  upon  his 
continued  coming ;  relieved  him  joyfully  of  his 
surplus  gold,  and  put  it  into  waterworks  and  other 
things  to  develop  the  productive  power  of  the  soil 
instead  of  wasting  it  in  mere  conveniences  for 
strangers  yet  to  come.  Nearly  all  its  growth  was 
upon  ten-  and  twenty-  acre  tracts — the  peculiar 
kind  of  settlement  that  in  San  Bernardino  and 
Los  Angeles  counties  had  been  going  on  for 
years  by  wealthy  people,  and  which  had  really 
started  the  boom. 

The  impression  is  general  that  the  Californians 
worked  up  the  boom.     Nothing  could  be  farther 


THE    SMILE   OF    THE  NATIVE.  87 

from  the  truth.  Such  a  thing  would  have  been 
quite  impossible,  eve-n  if  they  had  been  foolish 
enough  to  attempt  it.  Some  had  indeed  been 
advertising  the  resources  of  the  land  in  various 
ways,  and  many  were  anxious  to  see  new  settlers 
come  in  and  develop  the  country.  But  they 
wanted  men  who  would  work  and  improve  and  pro- 
duce something,  and  not  men  who  would  merely 
raise  land  values  and  cut  up  the  country  into  town 
lots,  and  turn  away  the  attention  of  people  from 
production,  and  actually  decrease  production  until 
they  had  to  buy  from  abroad  what  they  could 
better  raise  themselves.  But  the  majority  of 
those  having  land  to  sell  were  stockmen  who 
wanted  no  development  of  any  kind  that  would 
impair  the  free  range  on  government  land,  or  old 
fossils  who  wanted  no  progress  that  would  in- 
crease taxes  on  their  holdings  of  wild  land,  or 
people  who  had  been  trying  so  long  in  vain  to 
sell  that  they  had  given  up  the  idea  in  disgust,  or 
those  who  were  still  full  of  the  old  ideas  that  the 
country  was  of  no  value  anyhow,  and  had  been 
too  lazy  or  too  stupid  to  travel  about  and  learn 
that  the  world  had  moved  in  the  years  they  had 
been  sitting  in  the  shade  smoking  cigarettes. 
To  all  such  the  rapid  buying  and  building  was 


88  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DA  V. 

a  grand  surprise,  and  probably  no  such  smiles 
were  ever  seen  on  earth  as  those  they  exchanged 
around  the  corner  after  pocketing  the  money  of 
the  "  tenderfoot ;"  excepting  always,  nevertheless, 
the  smile  of  a  year  later  when  they  had  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  aforesaid  "  tenderfoot  " 
was  going  to  make  too  much  money  out  of  them, 
and  bought  him  out  for  ten  or  fifteen  times  what 
he  had  paid  them. 

So  far  the  boom,  though  aided  by  an  occasional 
auction,  and  the  efforts  of  Eastern  boomers,  who 
were  rapidly  coming  in,  was  quite  spontaneous. 
Property  in  all  directions  was  changing  hands,  and 
prices  were  slowly  rising.  But  it  was  all  good 
property ;  prices  were  not  extravagant ;  and  in 
only  a  few  places  were  they  at  all  ahead  of  what 
the  stage  of  settlement  would  justify. 

Week  after  week  rolled  on,  and  still  the  people 
came.  The  clatter  of  harvest  machinery  died 
away  along  the  plains,  the  hum  of  the  bee  ceased 
along  the  hills,  and  the  new-comers  bought  faster 
than  ever.  The  soft  glow  of  purple  and  rose  that 
had  lingered  around  the  mountain  tops  under  the 
declining  sun  of  summer  had  faded  out,  anr'  they 
now  lay  asleep  in  a  golden  haze.  Along  the  bot- 
tom-lands  the    bright    pink    of    the  sand-verbena 


THE    SMILE   OF    THE  NATIVE.  89 

was  vanishing,  and  among  the  chink  of  the  rocks 
the  mimulus  was  closing  its  scarlet  trumpets. 
Even  the  sunflower  in  the  shady  dells  was  pre- 
paring CO  retire  for  the  season,  and  the  crimson  of 
the  silene  and  the  tender  blue  of  the  mints  and 
lupins  that  overspread  the  slopes  in  summer  were 
already  gone.  The  almanac  said  that  autumn 
had  come,  but  the  "  tenderfoot "  came  faster  than 
ever.  It  seemed,  too,  that  he  had  more  money 
than  ever,  and  had  come  here  for  the  express 
purpose  of  finding  a  place  to  locate  it.  And 
though  the  openings  for  it  increased  fast  enough 
to  please  any  reasonable  creature,  he  acted  as  if 
he  had  never  before  had  an  opportunity  to  con- 
vert gold  into  real  estate,  and  wanted  to  make  up 
for  lost  time  as  quickly  as  possible.  Diamonds 
now  began  to  sparkle  on  bosoms  that  had  never 
before  known  starch.  The  silk  hat  beamed  over 
many  a  fossiliferous  skull,  and  shining  new  bug- 
gies dashed  here  and  there  with  real-estate  spec- 
ulators and  agents  who  for  years  had  gone  afoot. 

Weeks  rolled  on,  and  the  sea-breeze  died  away 
to  a  gentle  breath,  the  air  became  drier  and  drier, 
along  the  hills  the  heteromeles  hung  out  its  bril- 
liant clusters  of  scarlet  berries,  the  golden-rod  was 
aglow  in  the  meadows,  and  the  feathery  bloom  of 


go  MILLIONAIRES    OF  A    DA  Y. 

tlie  baccharis  drifted  over  with  white  large  por- 
tions of  the  chapparal,  and  still  the  people  came 
faster  than  ever,  and  bought  and  built  and  paid 
higher  prices,  and  seemed  more  happy  than  ever 
in  their  bargains.  And  over  the  canvas  the  news- 
paper correspondent  flung  his  paint-pots  of  adjec- 
tives more  lavishly  and  recklessly  than  ever,  and 
Eastern  editors  believed  his  extravagant  nonsense, 
and  wrote  editorials  that  still  farther  increased  the 
number  of  crazy  pilgrims,  and  a  war  in  railroad 
rates  accelerated  their  rapid  pace. 

The  still  bright  days  rolled  on,  the  nights  be- 
came cooler,  the  robin  and  blue-bird  came  down 
from  the  high  mountains,  the  burnished  green  of 
the  maillard's  head  shone  in  the  lagoon,  the  sil- 
very "  honk"  of  the  wild-goose  fell  softly  from  the 
sky,  the  almanac  said  that  winter  had  come,  and 
still  the  crowd  increased.  And  the  natives  stood 
lost  in  wonder,  for  the  Holidays  were  not  yet  past, 
and  after  the  Holidays  is  the  time  when  the  great 
body  of  the  tourists  always  comes. 

The  Holidays  came  and  washed  the  land  with 
abundant  rain,  and  though  some  of  the  invalids 
were  mad,  and  swore  that  the  climate  was  a  fraud 
and  that  all  men  were  liars  because  the  long 
stream  of  sunshine  had  been   broken   for  a  few 


THE   SMILE   OF    THE  NATIVE.  9 1 

days,  the  great  majority  of  the  new-comers  were 
more  pleased  than  ever.  For  daily  fresh  tints  of 
green  brightened  over  hill  and  dale,  and  beneath 
the  warm  sun  the  land,  with  its  new  buildings  ris- 
ing on  every  hand,  looked  never  so  prosperous. 
And  daily  the  smile  brightened  on  the  face  of  the 
hotel-keeper,  and  real-estate  agent  and  speculator, 
and  land-owner  of  high  and  low  degree ;  for  faster 
and  faster  on  every  train  came  more  men  and 
more  money. 

Heretofore,  though  too  many  had  been  buying 
for  speculation  only,  there  had  been  little  real 
gambling.  But  now  hundreds  who  had  bought 
only  to  improve  began  to  buy  something  to  hold 
for  a  rise  ;  and  hundreds  more,  who  so  far  had 
bought  nothing,  now  began  to  think  they  might 
as  well  make  some  money  as  see  other  people 
make  it.  Prices  were  rising  almost  by  the  day, 
any  kind  of  property  could  be  quickly  sold  at  an 
advance,  and  the  number  of  those  who  had  made 
a  handsome  "  clean-up"  on  a  small  investment 
was  already  very  large.  And  still  the  funniest 
part  of  the  whole  was  to  see  the  number  of  peo- 
ple— people,  too,  largely  from  the  land  of  booms, 
and  others,  who  had  traveled  far  and  wide  yet 
had  never  seen  a  boom.    No,  I  am  mistaken  again  : 


92  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  V. 

the  funniest  part  was  to  see  the  number  of  those 
who  had  seen  booms  before,  and  thought  they 
were  now  wise  enough  to  know  where  the  top  of 
the  next  one  was. 

When  the  boom  started  the  Californians  laughed 
at  it.  The  first  stage  was  spontaneous  and  healthy. 
The  crazy  part  of  it  was  started  by  professional 
boomers  flocking  in  from  Kansas  City,  Chicago, 
St.  Paul,  San  Francisco,  and  other  places,  and 
showing  the  natives  how  to  make  money  out  of 
wind.  Never  were  more  apt  scholars  found,  and 
they  soon  became  dizzy  with  the  rapid  instillation 
of  Avisdom.  Farmers  began  to  neglect  their  farms 
and  go  into  town-lot  speculation.  Orchards  and 
vineyards  were  given  over  to  the  malva  and  wild- 
mustard,  and  too  many  bore  only  crops  of  town- 
lot  stakes.  It  became  far  more  dignified  for  the 
owner  of  town-lots  that  were  advancing  in  value 
by  the  day  to  buy  his  eggs  from  Iowa,  his  chick- 
ens from  Kansas  City,  his  pork  from  Chicago,  and 
his  butter  from  the  north,  than  to  bother  with 
raising  them.  If  you  met  a  granger  on  his  Avay 
to  town  it  was  a  safe  bet  that  he  was  going  in  to 
buy  a  sack  of  potatoes  imported  from  Humboldt 
County,  in  the  far  north.  And  all  this  was  aggra- 
vated by  the  fact  that  it  was  now  quite  useless  to 


THE   SMILE    OF    THE  NATIVE.  93 

talk  to  a  new-comer  about  buying  a  farm.  Of  the 
hundreds  who  came  with  the  intention  of  buying 
productive  land,  not  one  in  a  hundred  could  be 
induced  to  look  at  a  piece.  Why  buy  a  farm  now 
when  it  was  so  much  better  to  double  one's 
money  first  on  town-lots  and  then  buy  a  farm  ? 
These  were  the  sages  who  spread  out  their  money 
as  thin  as  possible  in  buying  town-lots  on  a  small 
margin,  lost  the  whole  of  it,  and  then  went  back 
to  tell  Eastern  editors  that  the  whole  of  Southern 
California  was  cut  up  into  twenty-five-foot  lots. 
Before  the  winter  of  1886-7  nearly  everything 
sold  as  town-lots  was  in  additions  to  cities  already 
well  established,  and  where  it  was  plain  that  some- 
thing of  a  city  would  always  exist.  But  now 
began  the  laying  out  of  new  cities — cities  made 
to  order,  of  which  the  principal  resources  were 
climate  and  scenery.  Why  should  the  owner  of 
two  such  conditions  trouble  himself  with  any  such 
gross  materialities  as  trade  ?  Was  not  the  whole 
country  growing  with  a  rapid  and  substantial 
growth,  extending  over  town  and  country  and 
covering  a  vast  area  ?  Was  it  not  certain  that 
the  whole  East  was  running  as  fast  as  it  could 
away  from  the  horrors  of  its  climate?  No  such 
growth  had  ever  before  been  seen  in  any  part  of 


94  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

the  world,  and  would  have  been  impossible  any- 
where except  under  the  climate  of  Southern  Cali- 
fornia, which  has  for  years  infatuated  a  certain 
proportion  of  its  visitors,  and  will  continue  to  in- 
fatuate them  to  the  end  of  time.  What  wonder, 
then,  that  Farmer  Smith  or  Granger  Jones  should 
think  that  the  farm  where  the  rabbits  had  for  so 
many  years  kept  him  and  his  family  from  starva- 
tion had  just  the  finest  bit  of  climate  and  scenery 
on  earth,  and  that  several  thousand  people  must 
soon  need  a  slice  of  it  ? 

Yet  amid  all  this  nonsense  the  land  was  quietly 
filling  as  it  is  to-day,  and  as  it  was  before  the  boom, 
with  people  who  neither  knew  nor  cared  anything 
about  booms.  Quietly  as  snowflakes  they  were 
settling  over  the  land,  ignored  and  laughed  at  as 
a  lot  of  innocents  by  their  wiser  brethren  who 
did  not  purpose  taking  a  lifetime  to  get  rich. 


AND  AGAIN    THE  NATIVE   SMILES.  95 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AND   AGAIN    THE   NATIVE   SMILES. 

Once  more  the  cooing  of  the  dove  came  from 
the  sycamores  along  the  creeks  and  the  carol  of 
the  oriole  from  the  live-oak  groves,  the  pink  of 
the  gentian  and  the  scarlet  bracts  of  the  painted 
cup  rose  above  the  spangled  green  that  robed  the 
plain,  and  along  the  hills  the  golden  light  of  the 
rock-rose  and  the  wild  alfalfa  illumined  the  gray- 
ish green  of  the  ramiria  and  sage.  The  almanac 
said  that  the  spring  of  1887  had  come,  and  with  it 
came  an  increase  in  the  number  of  wealthy 
strangers  that  beggared  fondest  expectations. 
New  varieties  of  fools  arrived  on  every  train,  and 
every  new  variety  of  folly  seemed  more  contagious 
than  the  last.  The  streets  were  everywhere  crowd- 
ed, gold  clinked  on  every  hand,  and  imaginary 
millionaires  by  the  score  rode  around  the  streets 
in  shining  new  buggies  with  fast  horses,  or  bustled 
about  the  banks  and  real-estate  ofifices  with  check- 
books sticking  from  their  outside  breast-pockets. 


96  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DA  Y. 

The  crimson  bugles  of  the  wild  gooseberry  lit 
up  the  delicate  lavender  of  the  lilac,  and  the 
creamy  trumpets  of  the  wild  honeysuckle  hung 
over  the  red  limbs  and  bright-green  leaves  of  the 
manzanita ;  lower  down  the  lupin  and  the  vetch 
scattered  their  carmine  and  purple  along  the  base 
of  the  hills,  and  the  marigold  and  the  chilla  were 
spreading  their  lemon  and  blue  over  the  slopes 
below,  and  still  the  travel  increased,  and  the  more 
wealthy  and  reckless  the  new-comers  were.  Spec- 
ulation in  outside  town-sites  was  now  in  full 
career.  No  longer  any  need  of  the  brass  band  or 
free  lunch  or  glib-tongued  auctioneer  or  assistants 
of  any  kind.  Though  all  such  were  still  freely 
used  they  were  quite  superfluous.  No  longer  any 
need  of  guarantees  of  railroads,  waterworks,  col- 
leges, hotels,  or  anything  else.  No  longer  any 
need  of  abstracts  of  title,  showing  the  property, 
or  even  setting  stakes  to  mark  the  lots.  All  that 
was  now  necessary  was  a  big  map  with  so  many 
lots  marked  off  with  red  chalk  to  mean  "  Sold,"  a 
big  notice  in  the  window  "  Prices  raised  twenty 
per  cent  to-morrow,"  plenty  of  printed  forms  of 
contracts  of  sale,  and  plenty  of  clerks  to  fill  them 
out.  Little  it  mattered  where  the  land  lay.  North, 
south,  east,  or  west,  in  a  hole  or  on  a  hill,  it  was 


AND  AGAIN    THE   NATIVE   SMIIES.  9/ 

all  the  same  to  the  man  who  never'  saw  it,  never 
wanted  to  see  it,  and  never  expected  to  go  near  it, 
but  did  expect  to  sell  it  to  some  other  ass  in  thirty 
days  for  twice  what  he  had  paid  for  it.  It  was  now 
no  trouble  to  sell  anything  that  was  chopped  into 
tAventy-five-foot  lots.  No  matter  whether  there 
were  any  farming  land  around  it  or  any  reason 
for  the  existence  of  a  town  there  for  the  next 
century;  all  that  was  necessary  was  a  sufficient 
acreage  chopped  up  fine  enough. 

Of  what  use  is  a  twenty-five-foot  lot  to  any 
one  ?  was  a  question  that  few  asked.  But  after 
all,  who  is  the  wiser  ? — the  man  who  says,  ''  This 
is  all  nonsense,  and  can't  last,"  or  the  man  who 
says,  "  My  dear  sir,  I  know  all  that  as  well  as  you 
do.  But  when  the  world  takes  a  notion  to  be  an 
ass,  it  is  for  a  while  the  biggest  ass  in  the  universe. 
The  man  who  caters  the  soonest  to  its  morbid 
appetite  is  the  smartest  fellow.  In  a  boom  you 
can  sell  two  twenty-five-foot  lots  for  considerably 
more  than  you  can  sell  one  fifty-foot  lot.  Smart 
folks  who  think  they  know  all  about  human 
nature,  think  they  know  better  than  this.  Rut 
you  will  please  remember  that  neither  Solomon 
nor  Shakespeare  ever  saw  a  first-class  boom." 

Be  all  this  as  it  may,  the  Eastern  people,  who 


98  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

afterward  complained  the  most  about  it,  were  the 
most  to  blame  for  the  small-lot  business.  There 
never  was  a  better  illustration  of  the  old  adage, 
"  One  fool  makes  many."  The  natives  at  first 
sneered  at  it.  Eastern  boomers  started  it,  Eastern 
fools  did  the  first  buying,  and  by  their  success 
finally  turned  the  heads  of  the  Californians  them- 
selves, and  made  of  them  the  biggest  fools  of  the 
lot.  The  plain  fact  is,  that  those  parts  where 
nothing  less  than  fifty-foot  lots  were  sold  did  no 
better  than  where  they  were  all  twenty-five. 

During  almost  the  whole  of  the  year  1887  this 
kind  of  work  went  steadily  on.  Tens  of  thou- 
sands of  acres,  fit  only  for  grain,  hay,  alfalfa, 
or  pasture,  were  thus  mangled  and  sold  to  people 
of  whom  not  one  in  a  thousand  expected  ever  to 
use  the  lots,  but  bought  them  only  to  sell  to  some 
one  else  in  sixty  days  at  a  good  advance.  And 
yet  scarcely  any  one  of  these  paper  town-sites 
could  fairly  be  called  a  swindle.  The  soil  was 
almost  invariably  good,  the  location  healthy,  the 
scenery  and  climate  first-class,  and  the  title  either 
perfect,  or  quickly  made  so  by  the  buyer  paying 
in  full.  A  mere  boy  who  buys  property  any- 
where, not  with  the  intention  of  using  it  but  of 
selling  to  some  one  else  at  an  advance  in  a  few 


AND  AGAIN    THE,  NATIVE   SMILES.  99 

weeks,  should  have  sense  enough  to  know  that  he 
is  gambhng,  and  keep  quiet  if  he  loses.  And  yet 
thousands  of  successful  business  men  from  the 
East  plunged  headlong  into  this  game,  and  then 
went  home  to  set  up  a  world-wide  howl.  Nor  is 
it  exactly  fair  to  call  robbery  even  the  outrageous 
rents  that  now  prevailed.  When  a  dozen  per- 
sons are  trying  to  rent  his  new  building  before 
the  first  brick  of  its  foundation  is  laid,  who  can  be 
expected  to  sit  calmly  down  and  calculate  the 
tenant's  profit  on  the  lease  ? 

The  success  of  some  of  these  paper  town-sites 
was  wonderful.  Thousands  of  acres  bought  for 
thirty,  twenty,  and  even  ten  dollars  an  acre,  and, 
without  water  for  irrigation,  worth  not  half  of 
those  figures,  were  sold  in  lots  at  from  one  thou- 
sand to  ten  thousand  dollars  an  acre.  And  this 
was  done  in  dozens  of  places,  and  continued  for 
many  months,  with  the  buyers  becoming  daily 
more  ravenous.  At  many  a  sale  of  the  merest 
trash  buyers  stood  in  line  all  night,  and  fifty  dollars, 
and  even  a  hundred,  were  often  paid  for  places  in 
the  line  in  the  morning.  Incredible  as  such  state- 
ments may  appear,  they  were  as  nothing  to  the 
private  offers  made  and  refused.  The  instances 
in  which  two  fools  met  would  fill  a  volume  much 


lOO  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DA  Y. 

larger  than  this.  Were  I  to  give  a  few  in  which 
the  names  of  men  widely  known  throughout  the 
United  States  as  embodiments  of  shrewdness, 
financial  wisdom,  and  business  ability  figured  as 
parties,  the  credibility  of  this  whole  book  would 
be  destroyed  at  once. 

Yet  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  a  town-lot 
craze  was  all  there  was  of  it.  There  were  in- 
stances enough  to  prove  that  he  who  flatters  him- 
self that  any  amount  of  experience,  business 
ability,  or  financial  shrewdness  will  enable  him 
to  hold  the  helm  steady  in  such  a  storm  of  exam- 
ple as  here  overwhelmed  the  new-comer,  has 
something  yet  to  learn  about  himself.  But  if  it  had 
been  a  mere  following  of  leaders  over  an  empty 
sea,  the  canvas  would  soon  have  been  hauled 
in.  It  is  true  enough  that  the  great  majority  of 
buyers  were  only  following  each  other.  "  What 
sJicep  these  mortals  be,"  should  have  read  the 
California  edition  of  Shakespeare  for  those  times. 
Yet  there  was  enough  of  solidity  in  it  all  to  keep  it 
up  to  a  certain  point ;  for  actual  settlers  were 
coming  at  a  more  rapid  rate  than  ever,  and  mak- 
ing great  and  permanent  improvements  all  over 
the  land.  Most  of  them  settled  in  the  cities,  and 
the  settlement  of  the  productive  part  of  the  land 


AND  ACAIN   the  native   SMILES.        10 1 

was  temporarily  retarded.  But  nearly  all  of  them 
came  to  stay,  though  thousands  were  destined 
afterward  to  wring  their  living  from  the  soil  they 
at  first  despised,  and  thus  become  an  important 
factor  in  the  future  prosperity  of  the  country. 
And  so  the  whole  was  growing  more  rapidly  than 
ever,  and  with  a  class  of  settlers  that  no  other 
part  of  the  United  States  has  ever  yet  seen  or  is 
likely  ever  to  see.  Los  Angeles  was  now  growing 
at  the  rate  of  about  two  thousand  a  month  and 
San  Diego  at  the  rate  of  about  a  thousand,  while 
Pasadena,  Monrovia,  and  other  towns  were  in- 
creasing at  the  same  pace.  And  still  the  funniest 
part  of  the  whole  was  to  see  the  number  of 
people  alleged  to  be  intelligent,  and  people  who 
claimed  to  have  traveled,  yet  had  never  before 
seen  a  boom.  Excuse  me — I  am  wrong  again. 
The  funniest  thing  was,  continuously,  to  see  the 
number  of  people  who  had  seen  booms  before  and 
been  through  them  and  lost  money  on  them,  and 
who  were  now  in  position  from  their  past  experience 
to  know  exactly  where  the  next  one  would  stop. 

And  now  the  old-timers  who  a  year  ago  had 
gone  around  the  corner  and  laughed  in  their 
sleeves  after  unloading  on  the  "  tenderfoot"  the 
lots  or  acres  over  which  for  many  a  year  they 


102  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

had  groaned  when  the  time  for  paying  a  few  dol- 
lars of  taxes  came  around,  went  around  the  cor- 
ner again.  But  this  time  the  smile  of  other  days 
sat  not  upon  their  faces.  A  sad  and  serious  look 
had  taken  its  place. 

"  What  ?  y^^^^rusalem  !  Shall  I,  who  have  lived 
on  beans  and  peppers  and  rustled  clams  these 
many  years  on  the  salt-sea  shore  so  as  to  hold 
my  lots,  now  see  some  rich  old  duffer  from  the 
East  get  still  richer  at  my  expense  ? 

"  Shall  I,  who  have  chewed  jerky  these  many 
years  and  never  could  afTord  to  eat  a  decent  beef- 
steak out  of  my  own  cattle,  now  see  the  stranger 
drinking  champagne  out  of  the  profits  of  the 
land  I  sold  him  at  a  sacrifice  because  I  was  fool 
enough  to  think  he  was  paying  me  more  than  I 
thought  it  was  worth  ? 

"  Shall  I,  who  for  years  have  tried  to  sell  those 
blasted  lots  for  enough  to  pay  the  fare  for  myself 
and  family  out  of  the  town,  and  couldn't  do  it, 
now  get  left,  with  only  a  few  thousand  dollars  ? 

"  Not  much  !  I  haven't  skinned  dead  cattle  to 
save  their  hides  in  dry  years,  and  drunk  mescal 
instead  of  good  whisky,  for  nothing.  We  never 
knew  what  the  cussed  country  was  worth  until 
outsiders   found   it  out,  and    now  we   are  green 


AND  AGAIN   THE  NATIVE  SMILES.        I03 

enough  to  let  them  make  all  the  money  out  of 
it." 

And  so  they  reasoned  here  and  there.  The 
man  who  for  years  had  run  a  successful  cactus 
ranche  compared  notes  with  the  ex-tar-weed 
rancher,  and  both  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  stranger  was  walking  off  with  entirely  too 
much  of  the  "swag."  And  the  real-estate  man 
who  for  years  had  gazed  at  the  vacant  doorway 
of  his  of^ce  waiting  for  a  second  Tom  Scott  to 
bring  a  transcontinental  railroad,  and  the  man 
who  for  as  long  a  time  had  been  driving  his 
sheep  over  his  neighbor's  range  to  steal  feed 
enough  to  enable  him  to  pay  the  light  taxes  on 
his  own  range,  both  reached  the  same  conclusion. 
All  of  them  now  had  plenty  of  money,  and  as 
the  banks  were  full  of  the  strangers'  coin,  which 
they  were  quite  willing  to  loan  to  the  solid  old 
citizens  at  fifteen  per  cent,  the  aforesaid  solid  old 
citizens  had  little  difificulty  in  rescuing  enough  of 
the  precious  soil  from  the  hand  of  the  unworthy 
stranger. 

But  if  paid  for  in  full  the  money  would  not  go 
far  enough,  and  too  much  of  the  profit  of  the 
great  future  would  pass  into  the  hand  of  the 
"tenderfoot,"  instead  of  passing  into  the  hands 


104  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DA  Y. 

of  those  who  had  borne  the  heat  and  burden  of 
tlie  long  day.  Hence  they  followed  the  now  al- 
most universal  custom — bought  on  contract,  with 
a  payment  of  only  one  fourth  or  one  third  down, 
and  a  personal  obligation  to  pay  the  remainder 
in  six  and  twelve  months,  with  interest  at  twelve 
per  cent.  And  so  the  old-timers  bought  in  again 
at  from  five  to  fifteen  times  the  price  at  which 
they  had  sold  a  year  before,  and  again  they  went 
around  the  corner  and  smiled  in  their  sleeves  at 
the  way  in  which  they  had  again  taken  in  the 
"  tenderfoot," 


HIGH   TIDE   OF   THE  BOOM.  10$ 


CHAPTER  VII. 

HIGH   TIDE   OF  THE   BOOM. 

The  mantles  of  white  that  robed  the  tops  of 
the  higher  mountains  were  fast  becoming  tat- 
tered along  the  edges ;  wee  little  quails  fluttered 
in  squealing  lines  of  gray  from  the  brush  along 
the  road-sides  ;  the  soft  tints  of  the  choryzanthe 
tinged  the  lower  hills  with  pink ;  the  silken  floss 
of  the  dodder  tangled  the  wild  buckwheat  in  a 
maze  of  orange  light,  and  the  snowy  bloom  of  the 
elder  outshone  along  the  low  lands  that  of  the 
sumac  along  the  hills.  Summer  had  come  again, 
and  still  the  stream  of  travel  enlarged,  and  al- 
most by  the  day  the  proportion  of  wealthy  fish 
in  it  increased.  And  they  bit  at  the  barest  hook 
more  recklessly  than  ever.  Though  many  of  the 
old-timers  were  buying  in  again,  there  were  still 
lots  enough  thrown  on  the  market  from  every 
point  of  the  compass  to  feed  the  most  ravenous 
of  the  school  of  gudgeons. 

Did  ever  such  a  flock  of  such  luscious  goslings 


I06  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A  DAY. 

SO  insist  on  flying  into  the  mouth  of  the  fox? 
With  nine  tenths  of  those  now  coming  such  little 
trifles  as  resources  were  of  no  moment.  All  they 
knew  or  cared  to  know  was  that  people  who  had 
made  money  were  buying,  and  that  prices  were 
almost  daily  rising.  Many  were  tourists  of  the 
class  who  travel  solely  for  hotels.  The  hotel, 
its  table,  and  its  service  are  about  all  they  see  in 
any  country,  and  about  all  they  have  to  talk 
about  when  they  go  away.  From  these  they 
form  their  estimate  of  any  new  country.  Cali- 
fornia now  had  good  hotels,  and  all  of  this  class 
were  pleased.  With  the  exception  of  the  ancient 
Missions  and  a  few  broken-down  adobe  buildings, 
old  enough  to  pass  for  antiquities,  the  hotels  and 
the  real-estate  oflfices  were  all  they  saw. 

Time  was  when  the  countryman  cut  a  ridicu- 
lous figure  in  the  city.  But  to-day  every  "  Coun- 
try Jake"  knows  all  about  the  city,  while  so 
many  city  people  now  travel  so  exclusively  by 
rail  and  fill  up  the  time  between  stations  with 
cards  or  novels,  that  the  proportion  of  those  that 
are  lost  the  moment  they  set  foot  beyond  the 
pavement  is  greater  than  ever.  Whether  sau- 
sages grow  on  trees,  or  underground,  like  pota- 
toes,  they  hardly  know  nor  care.     The  genuine 


HIGH   TIDE   OF   THE  BOOM.  10/ 

City  Jake,  as  he  performed  in  California  at  this 
time,  was  enough  to  turn  the  head  of  any  one. 
The  less  he  knew  or  cared  about  the  substantial 
resources  of  the  land,  and  the  less  competent  he 
was  to  judge  of  them,  even  if  he  had  tried  to,  the 
more  recklessly  he  bought.  What,  therefore,  was 
more  natural  than  for  the  residents,  new  as  well 
as  old,  to  ask :  "  Where  is  all  this  going  to  end  ? 
Are  we  all  fools,  or  are  we  not  ?  Do  we  know 
anything,  or  don't  we?"  He  who  thinks  that 
under  such  a  strain  he  could  have  answered  any 
of  these  questions  soberly  and  correctly  would 
probably  have  been  the  biggest  fool  of  the  lot  if 
he  had  been  here. 

"  Don't  it  beat  the  dickens  ?"  said  Major  Mufifin 
to  Judge  Bumps,  a  lawyer  who  had  given  up  a 
good  practice  to  go  into  real  estate. 

"  Why,  we  are  just  taking  a  tumble  to  our- 
selves. I  knew  long  ago  that  we  were  going 
to  beat  San  Francisco,  only  I  was  green  enough 
to  think  it  would  take  eight  or  ten  years  to  do 
it." 

"  How  long  do  you  think  this  is  going  to  last  ?" 
inquired  Judge  Dumble  of  Colonel  Gote. 

"  Last }  Why  we  are  just  settling  down  to  busi- 


108  MILLIONAIRES  OP  A    DAY. 

ness.  The  world  is  just  finding  out  about  our 
climate." 

"Marvelous,  isn't  it  ?"  said  General  Applehead 
to  Commodore  Shadtail. 

"  Not  at  all.  The  only  marvel  is  that  it  has 
been  so  long  coming,"  replied  the  Commodore, 
flapping  against  his  leg  a  new  check-book  with 
which  he  had  just  come  out  of  the  bank.  "  We 
have  just  struck  our  gait  :  before,  we  have  been 
only  scoring." 

"  This  is  now  the  central  point  of  a  thousand 
converging  lines  from  every  town,  city,  and  hamlet 
in  the  United  States,"  said  General  Theophilus 
Turkeytail,  who  had  made  three  millions  on  the 
boom,  looking  down  with  the  air  of  a  big  St.  Ber- 
nard, examining  a  little  whiffet  of  a  man  who 
had  made  only  half  a  million  out  of  nothing. 
"She  is  going  now  by  her  own  momentum,  Sir. 
We  have  sixty  millions  on  this  side  of  the  Atlan- 
tic, Sir,  and  when  they  are  exhausted  there  are 
lots  more  on  the  other  side." 

And  the  smaller  millionaire  looked  gratefully 
up  into  the  great,  wise  countenance,  drew  a  long 
breath  of  satisfaction,  and  went  off  to  buy  some- 
thing more  on  credit,  to  increase  his  load  when 
the  day  of  reckoning  came. 


HIGH    TIDE   OF    THE  BOOM.  109 

"  I  always  knew  it  would  be  so,"  said  General 
Spraddlebuck,  who  for  several  years  before  the 
boom  had  been  vainly  trying  to  sell  his  town-lots 
for  one  fourth  of  what  they  cost  him  ten  years 
before,  so  as  to  be  able  to  go  to  another  town, 
but  who  was  now,  according  to  one  of  the  papers, 
a  great  "  enterprising  and  progressive  citizen, 
whose  undying  faith  in  our  beautiful  city  has 
made  him  rich.' 

"  We  have  thought  at  times  that  we  were  going 
too  fast,  but  we  have  been  merely  trembling  at 
the  shadow  of  our  own  greatness,"  said  the  Rev. 
Solomon  Sunrise,  who  on  week-days  had  been 
more  successful  in  getting  a  cheap  option  on  a 
piece  of  valuable  property  than  in  beating  the 
devil  out  of  an  immortal  soul  on  Sundays.  "  We 
have  but  girded  our  loins  for  the  race,  and  are 
running  now  like  a  strong  man  rejoicing  in  his 
strength,  knowing  no  fear."  Whereupon  the 
Rev.  Solomon  felt  for  his  check-book,  and  walked 
off  to  complete  a  good  trade  he  had  just  made. 

And  thus  they  reasoned  almost  everywhere. 
And  indeed  there  was  some  ground  for  such  rea- 
sonmg  among  the  thousands  who  knew  nothing 
of  the  immense  amount  of  good  land,  good  cli- 
mate, and  fine  scenery  to  be  found  in  Southern 


I  lO  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DA  Y. 

California,  the  supply  of  which  must  inevitably 
break  the  market,  even  though  the  demand  were 
fifty  times  what  it  now  was. 

Yet  never  was  there  such  an  opportunity  for 
men  of  moderate  ambition  and  a  little  caution  to 
lay  up  a  competency  on  so  small  an  investment. 
Up  to  a  certain  limit  the  game  was  certain  for  all 
who  came  in  soon  enough.  Hundreds  played  it 
in  this  way,  and  are  comfortable  to-day  on  an  in- 
vestment of  only  a  few  hundred  dollars,  and  often 
on  an  investment  of  nothing  but  time  and  energy. 
But  few  could  realize  that  making  a  few  thousand 
dollars  with  a  few  hundred  is  an  opportunity  that 
one  meets  scarcely  once  in  a  lifetime,  and  that 
the  chances  in  any  given  case  are  heavily  against 
it.  Nor  could  many  see  that  the  very  fact  that 
one  can  double  money  in  a  few  weeks  and  of- 
ten in  a  few  days  proves  the  existence  of  a  state 
of  affairs  on  the  continuance  of  which  for  even  a 
single  day  no  one  can  safely  bet.  But  few  thought 
of  such  things ;  and  few,  even  of  those  who  could 
on  any  day  in  1887  have  sold  out  for  a  handsome 
fortune  made  out  of  almost  nothing  but  wind, 
had  sense  enough  to  give  some  unincumbered 
property  to  wife  or  children.  The  most  of  them 
drove   blindly  on,  in  full  confidence  that    prices 


HIGH   TIDE   OF   THE  BOOM.  Ill 

would  continue  rising  to  the  point  they  desired, 
and  then  be  kind  enough  to  give  them  due  notice 
of  their  intention  to  stop. 

The  rich  people,  who  at  this  time  overran  the 
land,  were  alleged  to  be  intelligent.  And  so  they 
were,  as  intelligence  of  the  day  goes.  Most  of 
them  had  received  a  fine  newspaper  education. 
But  even  a  newspaper  education  will  not  enable 
one  to  make  money  at  real-estate  speculation, 
if  he  studies  the  situation  only  in  the  papers  and 
from  the  windows  of  a  Pullman  car.  And  the 
man  who  travels  by  special  car  is  worse  yet.  By 
a  violent  effort  a  man  of  considerable  wealth  can 
sometimes  be  got  as  far  as  five  miles  away  from 
an  ordinary  sleeping-car.  But  the  man  who  can 
drag  a  nabob  more  than  a  mile  away  from  the 
soft  cushions  and  the  dinner-table  of  his  private 
car  is  the  smartest  chap  of  the  day.  What  won- 
der, then,  that  in  a  land  so  different  from  every- 
thing the  Eastern  man  has  ever  seen  he  should  en- 
tirely overlook  all  the  true  resources  and  lavish  all 
his  attention  on  the  most  worthless  part  ?  It  seems 
incredible,  but  is  absolute  truth,  that  the  only 
really  valuable  part  of  the  land,  outside  of  estab- 
lished business  centers  in  established  cities,  never 
had  any  boom,  and  rose  scarcely  any  faster  in  price 


I  1 2  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DA  Y. 

than  it  had  risen  for  several  years  preceding.  The 
lands  that  to-day  are  selling  to  wealthy  settlers 
for  cash,  and  selling  faster  than  ever  at  from  fifty 
to  one  hundred  dollars  an  acre  more  than  they 
brought  during  the  height  of  the  excitement,  were 
then  no  attraction  to  the  horde  of  wealthy  specu- 
lators. These  were  the  irrigable  uplands  before 
mentioned.  Their  settlement  went  steadily  ahead 
as  it  had  done  before,  but  only  a  trifle  faster,  while 
all  the  riotous  uproar  was  over  dry  land  fit  only 
for  grain  or  common  farming  at  the  rate  of  a  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  to  support  a  family,  and  over 
outside  town-lots  fit  only  for  gambling  on  a  rising 
market.  The  great  groves  of  oranges  that  were 
paying  from  five  hundred  to  a  thousand  dollars 
an  acre,  the  vineyards  of  .raisin-grapes  that  were 
paying  two  hundred,  the  orchards  of  apricots  and 
other  fruits  that  were  paying  from  one  hundred 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty  an  acre,  not  one  in  a 
hundred  even  went  to  look  at. 

Nor  did  one  in  a  thousand  care  to  know  if  there 
were  any  similar  conditions  near  by  lying  unde- 
veloped— land  and  water  that  money  could  bring 
together.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  of 
the  best  fruit-land  in  the  world  lay  unsought 
and  unsuspected  by  them,  with  water  enough  in 


HIGH   TIDE   OF   THE  BOOM.  II3 

the  near  mountains  to  irrigate  it ;  yet  scarcely  one 
of  them  could  be  induced  to  listen  to  the  few  who 
talked  of  land  and  water  instead  of  advancing 
prices,  commercial  advantages,  climate,  transcon- 
tinental railroads,  steamship  lines  from  China  and 
Japan,  or  anything  but  the  simplest  and  best 
proved  means  of  producing  wealth  from  the  soil ; 
means  that  would  be  sure  to  hold  if  all  else  failed. 
It  was  only  upon  these  lands  that  the  kind  of 
settlement  was  found  that  made  Southern  Cali- 
fornia what  it  was,  and  distinguished  it  from  a 
mere  farming  country ;  and  it  was  their  rapid  set- 
tlement and  the  positive  proof  of  the  great  profits 
to  be  obtained  from  them  that  started  the  boom 
and  made  possible  its  continuance.  And  now  the 
evidence  of  their  intrinsic  value  was  on  every  hand, 
and  the  fruit  buyers  were  constantly  on  the  ground 
buying  for  cash  anything  and  everything  on  the 
trees  and  vines,  and  picking  and  packing  it  them- 
selves. And  yet  scarcely  any  turned  aside  to  in- 
quire into  it.  Indeed,  the  fact  that  the  immense 
profits  were  dependent  upon  irrigation  excited 
only  the  contempt  of  hundreds  who  consider  irri- 
gation a  mere  make-shift — a  miserable  substitute 
for  rain — and  do  not  know  that  dependence  on  the 
capricious  clouds    is  the  makeshift  and  irrigation 


114  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

is  the  solid  work.  Here  and  there  a  small  tract 
of  these  lands  was  bought  for  a  town-site,  but 
the  greater  part  of  them  was  passed  contemptu- 
ously by  the  noble  army  of  buyers. 

The  absurd  prices  to  which  town-lots  and  dry 
land  had  risen  would  alone  have  caused  a  great 
reaction,  but  other  causes  were  at  work.  Every- 
where the  newspapers  and  people  of  one  section 
were  saying  something  mean  about  every  other 
section,  and  everything  of  the  kind  was  greedily 
copied  and  applied  without  discrimination  to  the 
whole  State  by  the  editors  of  Eastern  papers, 
especially  in  the  blizzard-  and  cyclone-ridden  sec- 
tions, where  the  drain  of  people  and  money  into 
California  was  most  felt. 

The  tone  of  the  greater  part  of  the  correspond- 
ence of  Eastern  papers  was  now  also  quite  differ- 
ent from  what  it  had  been.  Many  correspondents 
were  honestly  deprecating  the  extravagance  to 
which  the  boom  had  been  carried,  but  many  more 
had  a  stronger  reason,  quite  unsuspected  by  the 
innocent  editors  who  published  their  letters  ;  and 
those  who  had  sent  out  special  correspondents,  be- 
cause they  were  disinterested  and  "  old  reliables," 
often  fared  no  better.  Scing  the  land  prosperous, 
with  gold  glittering  in  every  palm,  and  plain  mud 


HIGH   TIDE   OF   THE  BOOM.  II5 

making  more  in  five  minutes'  work  than  genius 
could  harvest  in  a  month,  it  was  quite  natural  for 
genius  to  inquire,  "  What  is  there  in  this  for  me?" 
The  next  step  was  generally  to  wait  on  some 
town-site  proprietor,  president  of  a  land  company, 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  or  citizens'  committee, 
and  offer  to  write  up  the  enterprise  or  section  or 
town  for  a  consideration  commensurate  with  its 
importance  and  the  lofty  ideas  of  the  times.  The 
correspondent  who  thought  the  fate  of  the  country 
was  in  his  hands,  too  often  thought  it  was  smart  to 
intimate  what  the  nature  of  the  "write  up"  might 
be  in  case  its  value  were  not  appreciated  at  a 
proper  money  standard.  If  so,  he  was  quite  likely 
to  retire  from  the  office  sadder  and  madder  than 
when  he  entered.  Often  he  had  the  impudence 
to  attempt  to  do  up  the  country  on  a  few  hours' 
acquaintance,  and  fared  little  better  than  in  the 
other  case.  In  either  case  he  poured  out  venom 
to  the  full  capacity  of  his  still,  and  this  was 
quickly  copied  by  scores  of  Eastern  papers  whose 
editors  thought  that  praise  of  California  was  get- 
ting rather  stale,  and  that  readers  would  relish  a 
change. 

Several  other   things,   quite    unnoticed  by  the 
great  majority  of  crazy  speculators,  were  paving 


Il6  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DAY. 

the  way  for  a  collapse.  Although  in  town  and 
country  Southern  California  was  growing  at  a  pace 
wholly  unprecedented  in  the  United  States,  fully 
five  sixths  of  the  buyers  were  buying,  not  for  use, 
but  to  sell  at  an  advance  to  some  one  else  in  a 
few  days  or  weeks.  And  as  nearly  all  sales  were 
upon  contract,  with  only  one  fourth  or  one  third 
paid  in  cash,  the  most  of  which  amounted  only  to 
an  option  on  the  part  of  the  buyer,  the  greater 
part  of  the  property  must  inevitably  be  thrown 
back  upon  the  market  to  save  the  first  payment 
the  moment  prices  ceased  rising. 

Taking  as  a  basis  almost  anything  now  selling, 
except  the  irrigated  lands  before  mentioned,  the 
value  of  the  three  southern  counties  alone  would 
have  equaled  the  assessed  value  of  the  whole 
State.  Nor  did  any  one  seem  to  see  that  there 
were  already  upon  the  market  more  town-lots 
than  could  be  settled  in  ten  years  if  every  train 
were  loaded  with  actual  settlers.  Another  fact, 
quite  unnoticed  because  the  information  was  sta- 
tistical and  could  be  seen  only  by  an  examination 
of  the  records  when  too  late,  was  that  hundreds 
of  the  sales  now  made  were  made  by  strangers 
quietly  unloading  on  the  natives.  But  for  this 
the  stranger  is  entitled  to  no  credit.     He  was  as 


HIGH  TIDE   OF   THE  BOOM.  WJ 

wild  as  the  native,  and  yielded  only  to  the  enor- 
mous figures  offered  by  the  native,  whom  he  had 
at  last  set  crazy. 

And  now  hundreds  of  farmers  who  had  hitherto 
kept  cool  moved  into  town  and  went  into  town- 
lot  speculation,  while  hundreds  more  who  remained 
on  their  farms  stopped  raising  anything  to  eat 
and  bought  nearly  everything  from  abroad. 

But  the  worst  mistake  was  ignoring  the  im- 
mense amount  of  fine  land  and  fine  climate  in 
Southern  California,  the  supply  of  which  must 
inevitably  break  any  market  at  the  present  day. 
It  was  once  a  maxim  that  tlie  best  part  of  any 
country  lies  out  of  sight  of  the  ordinary  Hues  of 
travel,  and  especially  out  of  sight  of  the  railroad. 
But  this  seems  to  have  been  changed,  and  South- 
ern California  in  particular  is  overrun  with  sages 
who  think  they  see  the  whole  of  it  by  an  occa- 
sional glance  out  of  the  car-window.  The  six 
southern  counties  contain  over  two  million  acres 
of  fine  arable  land  that  under  any  sun  would  be 
pronounced  first-class  by  anyone  who  would  take 
the  trouble  to  examine  it.  On  the  driest  half  of 
this,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  will,  without  any 
irrigation  whatever,  afford  as  good  a  living  as 
most  Eastern   farms  of  the   same,  size.     On  the 


Il8  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

other  half,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  with  the 
work  and  economy  necessary  the  world  over  for 
successful  farming,  will  give  one  a  better  living 
with  more  money  over  at  the  end  of  the  year  and 
less  annoyance  and  climatic  discomfort,  than  the 
same  area  in  most  of  the  Atlantic  States.  Then 
there  are  two  millions  more,  which  the  last  few 
years  have  proved  the  most  valuable  land  in 
America  when  properly  irrigated,  and  on  the 
greater  part  of  it  water  can  be  supplied.  And 
upon  the  greater  part  of  the  first  two  millions  the 
productive  power  can  be  increased  by  water  to  a 
degree  quite  inconceivable  by  those  who  have 
never  seen  the  difference  between  absolute  con- 
trol of  the  water  under  a  sun  where  things  grow 
the  whole  year  round,  and  dependence  upon  un- 
certain rainfall  in  a  land  where  everything  must 
grow  in  four  or  five  months.  And  these  four 
millions  do  not  include  any  of  the  Colorado  or 
Mojave  deserts,  which  contain  millions  more  await- 
ing the  coming  of  water  in  the  future.  But  few 
saw  these  facts,  because  it  is  so  much  easier  to  sit 
down  and  have  an  opinion  than  to  travel  about 
and  learn  something.  And  so  nearly  every  one 
acted  as  if  his  own  little  section  contained  about 
all  there  was  of  good  soil,  climate,  and  scenery  in 


HIGH   TIDE   OF   THE  BOOM,  IlQ 

Southern  California,  made  haste  to  secure  all  he 
could  of  it  before  it  was  too  late,  and  did  all  he 
could  to  raise  prices  to  a  point  that  must  inevi- 
tably break  the  market,  no  matter  how  great  the 
actual  merits  of  the  property. 


120  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A  DAY. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

GETTING  OUT. 

Nearly  every  sale  now  made  was  genuine. 
At  the  public  sales  there  were  of  course  a  few 
aids  to  correct  judgment  scattered  judiciously 
among  the  crowd.  It  is  doubtful  if  there  are 
many  real-estate  sales  in  modern  times  without 
them.  The  man  who  thinks  he  is  attending  a 
sale  where  there  are  none,  and  is  buying  exclu- 
sively upon  the  standard  set  up  by  actual  buyers, 
is  liable  to  be  a  bigger  goose  than  ever  performed 
in  California  during  the  craziest  time.  Second- 
hand furniture  can  be  trusted  on  its  naked  merits 
to  bring  at  an  auction  more  than  it  is  worth. 
Second-hand  horses  often  do  even  better.  But 
one  who  has  ever  trusted  the  most  meritorious 
real  estate  to  its  naked  merits  seldom  does  it  a 
second  time.  Yet  most  of  the  "  cappers"  were 
now  members  of  the  land  company  making  the 
sale  or  friends  of  the  seller,  who  as  a  personal 
favor  were    allowed    to   bid    off   (or   "mark   off" 


GETTING  OUT.  121 

where  the  sale  was  from  the  map  only)  a  few  lots 
to  "  hold  for  a  few  days"  and  make  the  advance. 
The  few  days  now  found  prices  rising  so  rapidly 
that  the  party  for  whom  they  were  marked  off 
generally  concluded  to  take  them  for  himself,  and 
so  became  a  genuine  buyer. 

In  August  1887  the  boom  was  at  its  height, 
though  no  one  suspected  it.  New  people  were 
pouring  in  faster  than  ever,  and  jumping  at  every- 
thing and  anything  more  ravenously  than  ever. 
The  amount  of  money  passing  in  exchange  every 
day  through  the  banks  is  so  incredible  to  any 
one  who  has  not  seen  the  record  of  it  that  I  dare 
not  give  the  figures.  A  million  was  now  the 
standard  figure  for  a  "  capitalist"  worthy  of  men- 
tion, with  from  three  to  five  milhons  to  distinguish 
the  larger  ones.  "  Capitalist"  was  now  the  desig- 
nation of  nearly  every  one  of  them,  and  was  the 
common  designation  of  a  man's  business  in  the  new 
directories  and  in  the  letter-heads  of  new  corpora- 
tions and  other  places.  Instead  of  being  surprised, 
the  majority  thought  it  only  a  case  of  manifest 
destiny ;  and  he  who  dared  suggest  any  doubts 
about  the  continuance  of  this  state  of  affairs  was 
a  croaker,  a  fossil,  and  what  not.  And  the  wild- 
est of  the  lot  were  generally  the  new-comers  from 


122  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

the  East,  who  had  begun  to  make  some  money  out 
of  it.  They  thought  the  old  settlers  fools  who 
did  not  yet  know  the  true  value  of  their  country. 
In  general  they  were  eminently  right,  though  not 
in  the  sense  they  intended.  Some  of  them  had 
seen  booms  before.  But  they  thought  the  con- 
ditions of  this  boom  vastly  different  from  any 
ever  before  seen.  In  fact  this  was  not  a  boom  at 
all,  but  only  a  sudden  recognition  of  what  the 
world  had  long  been  looking  for  and  had  just 
found.  Boom  ?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  It  was  only 
a  natural  growth,  and  had  only  fairly  started. 
Whether  any  one  else  had  ever  been  stranded  on 
the  same  sandbank  in  different  conditions,  the}- 
never  asked.  They  were  only  certain  that  this 
was  no  boom,  and  that  the  conditions  of  its  growth 
were  something  entirely  new. 

Nor  were  there  many  buying  for  speculation. 
Bless  you,  no  :  they  were  buying  only  for  invest- 
ment. The  rate  of  interest  for  money  in  the  East 
was  a  little  too  low.  Especially  does  the  tower- 
ing genius  who  has  made  a  fortune  by  his  own 
exertions  find  five  or  six  per  cent  too  slow.  He 
prides  himself  on  being  a  "  self-made  man,"  and 
takes  good  care,  perhaps,  to  tell  you  so  ;  inform- 
ing you  often  with  vast  superfluity  that  he  "  never 


GETTING  OUT.  1 23 

had  no  schoolin'."  Such  genius  cannot  be  con- 
tent with  the  low  interest  that  satisfies  the  born 
banker  or  the  man  who  has  inherited  a  stack  of 
bonds.  But  of  course  he  does  not  want  anything 
too  big.  O  no  !  He  wants  to  let  you  know  that 
he  is  a  financier,  by  giving  you  the  old  saw  that 
high  interest  and  poor  securities  always  go  to- 
gether. But  he  does  want  the  interest  to  which 
his  genius  is  entitled,  to  wit,  from  twelve  to 
twenty  per  cent.  And  there  is  no  surer  way  to 
get  it  than  to  invest  in  a  good  solidly  growing 
town.     But  no  speculation,  for  him  ! 

And  so  the  public  sales  continued  from  early 
in  the  morning  until  late  in  the  night,  with  a 
chance  for  a  particular  friend  of  the  seller  or  some 
capitalist  of  note,  whose  time  was  limited,  but 
whose  importance  in  the  financial  world  deserved 
respect,  to  get  in  the  back  way  on  Sunday  and 
secure  a  fortune  on  his  way  to  church.  The 
streets  were  everywhere  filled  with  people,  and 
the  sheen  of  happy  teeth  in  the  sun,  the  everlast- 
ing blast  of  the  brass  band  on  the  curbstone  in 
front  of  the  selling-places,  the  parading  of  omni- 
buses with  big  placards  on  the  outside  and  a 
brass  band  within,  long  processions  decorated 
with  flags  and  headed  also  by  the  inevitable  band, 


124  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DAY. 

and  carrying  with  a  grand  flourish  the  lumber  for 
the  new  hotel  on  one  town-site,  and  the  new  fur- 
niture for  the  hotel  on  another,  the  flourish  of 
check-books,  the  rushing  to  and  fro  of  real-estate 
agents  who  now  occupied  with  their  offices  almost 
every  other  ground  floor  on  the  business  streets 
and  in  some  buildings  were  packed  like  sardines 
in  a  box,  the  glitter  of  diamond  rings  and  breast- 
pins, the  beam  of  new  silk  hats  and  smiling  faces 
all  tended  to  steal  away  one's  brains  rather  than 
make  one  more  cautious.  And  Southern  Cali- 
fornia not  being  large  enough  to  hold  the  ex- 
pected tide  of  humanity  yet  to  come,  and  not 
large  enough  for  the  soaring  aspirations  of  the  in- 
vestors, the  boom  rolled  over  the  Mexican  line 
into  Lower  California,  where  at  various  points 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  were  spent  for 
lots  at  fabulous  prices.  And  there  it  was  the 
same  as  in  California.  In  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  fertile  soil  that  could  be  bought 
for  a  song,  to  much  of  wdiich  water  could  be 
easily  brought,  and  on  much  of  which  the  subter- 
ranean water  was  so  near  the  surface  that  for 
most  things  no  irrigation  was  really  needed,  and 
on  hundreds  of  thousands  more  where  the  winter 
rainfall  is  so  heavy  that  almost  anything  can  be 


GETTING  OUT.  12$ 

raised  upon  it  alone,  scarcely  any  one  could  see 
any  investment.  But  thousands  of  twenty-five- 
foot  lots,  some  of  them  one  hundred  and  seventy 
miles  below  San  Diego,  sold  for  enough,  each,  to 
buy  a  whole  farm  of  fine  land  much  nearer  to 
market. 

And  yet  one  hardly  knows  whether  to  wonder 
most  at  such  things  or  at  the  wild  waste  of  money 
already  secured.  Thousands  of  people  supposed 
to  have  seen  something  and  been  somewhere  were 
acting  as  if  money  had  just  been  discovered  on  this 
earth.  A  lot  of  savages  who  had  raided  a  mint  and 
just  learned  what  the  coin  was  good  for,  could 
hardly  have  acted  worse  than  people  fresh  from 
the  East  who  brought  considerable  money  with 
them.  Dozens  of  land  companies  in  the  first  few 
days  of  sales  sold  over  three  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars' worth  of  lots,  of  which  the  first  payment  of 
one  third  in  cash  was  more  than  the  whole  could  be 
worth  in  twenty  years  unless  turned  into  fruit-land 
by  water.  And  then  they  generally  had  from  three- 
fourths  to  seven-eighths  of  the  tract  left.  The  al- 
most uniform  custom  was  to  spend  the  whole  of 
the  cash  for  a  hotel  about  ten  times  as  large  as 
could  be  filled  in  the  next  generation,  and  then 
anticipate  the  deferred  payments  by  borrowing  all 


126  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

that  the  banks  would  lend,  to  improve  the  tract 
with  something  else.  In  the  counties  of  Los 
Angeles  and  San-  Bernardino  the  owners  of  these 
town-sites  generally  had  sense  enough  to  spend 
the  money  first  for  water  for  irrigation,  so  that 
the  property  was  far  from  worthless.  But  in  San 
Diego  County  water  was  the  last  thing  thought  of, 
and  any  extravagant  nonsense  for  the  mere  con- 
venience of  future  tourists  took  precedence.  In 
nearly  all  cases  there  was  generally  debt  enough 
incurred  to  swamp  the  whole  on  the  least  turn  of 
the  tide  or  any  failure  of  the  buyers  to  complete 
their  payments.  There  were,  of  course,  some 
conspicuous  exceptions,  such  as  Coronado  Beach, 
which  within  one  year  received  two  and  a  half 
millions  in  cash,  and  after  paying  up  its  debts  and 
completing  all  its  immense  improvements  had 
four-fifths  of  the  property  left.  But  with  four- 
fifths  of  the  land  companies  it  was  the  other  way. 
One-half  the  money  thus  spent  in  mere  conveni- 
ence for  future  tourists  if  put  into  the  develop- 
ment of  water  and  railroads  to  open  the  interior 
and  connect  its  different  portions  would  have 
made  the  country  the  richest  in  the  world.  And 
one-half  of  the  money  spent  for  diamonds  and 
similar  stuff,  if  used  in  paying  private  debts  would 


GETTING  OUT.  12/ 

have  secured  a  competence  to  hundreds  who  are 
poor  to-day.  But  it  was  the  old  story  of  the  beg- 
gar on  horseback,  except  that  the  horse  was  a 
borrowed  horse,  which  with  a  httle  care  the  rider 
might  easily  own.  But  no,  they  could  not  wait 
a  few  short  hours.  Regular  "  bronco  busters  " 
most  of  them,  they  had  to  ride  the  horse  to  death 
at  the  first  dash. 

A  large  minority  kept  on  safe  ground  and  are 
far  better  off  to-day  than  they  would  probably 
ever  have  been  if  they  had  not  played  with  the 
great  boom.  Some  curbed  their  ambition  to  a 
few  thousand  dollars,  made  on  a  trifling  invest- 
ment. Others,  though  in  some  instances  specu- 
lating wildly,  kept  carefully  out  of  debt,  and 
bought  nothing  that  they  could  not  pay  for  in  full. 
Others  who  did  not  pay  in  full  refused  to  give 
any  personal  obligation  for  the  unpaid  balance, 
and  bought  practically  on  an  option  with  the 
exact  amount  of  the  risk  determined.  Others 
who  were  crazy  enough  at  the  beginning  became 
suddenly  scared,  and  .concluded  that  it  would  be 
at  least  safe  to  "  clean  up." 

Yet  "  cleaning  up"  was  not  so  simple  a  thing 
as  it  seemed.  And  many  a  one  sold  out  only  to 
conclude  in  a  few  days  afterward  that  he  was  a 


128  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A   DAY. 

fool,  and  buy  back  perhaps  some  of  the  very 
property  that  he  had  sold.  Mr.  Jones,  for  in- 
stance, was  a  very  sensible  man,  who  had  come 
here  in  1886  with  twenty  thousand  dollars,  and 
had  operated  with  good  judgment  and  consider- 
able caution.  He  now  sold  off  half  his  property, 
and,  after  paying  all  that  was  due  on  the  re- 
mainder, had  over  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
in  bank. 

Yet  in  less  than  twenty-four  hours  he  began  to 
feel  uneasy.  A  dollar  in  a  boy's  pocket  never 
burned  as  that  money  in  bank  did.  He  soon  be- 
gan to  worry  because  his  money  was  lying  idle. 
Never  having  felt  before  the  delights  of  idle  capi- 
tal, he  began  to  soliloquize  as  follows : 

"  First  thing  I  know,  tax  time  will  be  around, 
and  then  I  will  either  have  to  swear  to  a  lie  or 
else  have  it  assessed  at  its  full  value,  while  every- 
one else  is  assessed  at  only  one-fourth  on  property. 
In  the  meantime  it  is  drawing  no  interest,  and  is 
not  increasing  in  value  either.  If  I  put  it  in 
government  bonds  they  are  liable  to  be  stolen, 
and  if  in  registered  bonds  then  they  are  too  slow 
to  handle  in  case  I  want  to  use  some  of  it.  And 
the  interest  on  bonds  is  too  low  anyway.  No- 
body wants  to  borrow  money  now   except    the 


GETTING  OUT.  1 29 

speculators,  and  I  don't  want  to  lend  money  to 
any  one  for  that  purpose.  If  I  am  going  to  take 
those  chances  I  would  just  as  leave  take  in  the 
profit  myself  as  see  some  one  else  do  it  on  my 
money.  I  wonder  if  it  is  safe  here  in  the  banks  if 
there  comes  a  smash  ?  And  if  I  send  it  away  to 
any  of  the  big  banks  in  the  big  cities,  how  do  I  know 
that  it  is  any  safer  there  ?  Some  rascally  cashier 
or  president  is  always  wrecking  the  best  of  banks 
everywhere.  The  directors  put  some  old  goat  at 
the  head  of  the  bank  because  he  is  rich.  He 
knows  no  more  of  what  is  going  on  inside  than  I 
do ;  never  looks  over  the  books,  and  couldn't 
make  head  or  tail  out  of  them  if  he  looked  at 
them  every  day — mere  old  figure-heads,  all  of 
them,  that  add  no  more  to  the  safety  of  the  bank 
than  a  picture  of  George  Washington  in  a  back- 
wood's  gin-mill  adds  to  the  safety  of  the  Ameri- 
can Republic.  And  the  bigger  the  figure-head 
and  the  bigger  his  bank  the  less  he  knows  about 
it.  Confound  it,  loose  coin  isn't  such  a  fine  thing 
after  all.  I  believe  real  estate  is  the  best  thing 
to  keep  it  in,  and  there  is  always  a  chance  of  its 
increasing  there.  I  wonder,  now,  if  I  haven't 
been  goose  enough  to  get  scared  about  nothing  ? 
It  will   certainly  take  at  least  a  year  to  get  the 


I30  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DAY. 

brakes  set  on  such  a  train  as  this,  and  then  it  will 
take  fully  a  year  to  slow  down  the  train." 

Mr.  Smith,  who  had  also  "  made  a  handsome 
killing,"  reasoned  in  much  the  same  way,  but  con- 
cluded that  the  best  way  to  make  some  more 
money  was  to  hold  his  loose  cash  ready  for  the 
break  and  then  gather  in  the  fragments  of  the 
crockery  at  his  own  figures.  Mr.  Smith  still  makes 
"  a  handsome  killing"  every  fall,  but  it  is  on  hogs 
of  his  own  raising.  And  they  do  say  that  the 
sauerkraut  that  Mr.  Jones  now  puts  up  for  market 
"  goes  first-rate"  with  granger  Smith's  pork. 

Ex-granger  Squizzle,  who  had  turned  his  farm 
into  a  town-site,  made  a  grand  sale  of  lots  for 
fifty  times  what  they  could  possibly  be  worth  in 
twenty  years,  built  a  seventy-five-thousand-dollar 
hotel,  and  been  offered  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  for  his  remaining  interest  in  the 
whole,  came  also  to  the  conclusion  that  it  would 
be  well  to  clean  up.  There  was  bound  to  be  a 
collapse,  he  thought,  and  the  man  who  had  money 
would  then  be  master  of  the  situation.  He  had 
already  in  view  several  fine  town-sites  for  the 
future  that  he  would  then  pick  up  at  his  own 
figures  and  have  ready  for  the  next  boom,  which 
was  of  course  going  to  come  in  about  six  months, 


GETTING   OUT.  I31 

or  a  year  at  the  farthest,  after  the  collapse.  Of 
course  no  one  else  had  thought  of  anything  of 
the  sort,  and  every  one  would  be  over  ears  in  debt, 
and  he  would  have  all  the  ready  cash  there  was. 
But  to  sell  just  now  would  be  to  sacrifice  too 
much.  After  the  Holidays  would  come  the  great 
rush  of  wealthy  people,  and  then  he  would  un- 
load so  quickly  and  for  nearly  twice  what  he  could 
now  !  It  maybe  incidentally  remarked  in  passing 
that  the  very  sage  Mr.  Squizzle  now  raises  his  own 
potatoes  instead  of  buying  imported  ones  from 
Humboldt  County. 

Other  people  found  other  difficulties. 

Ex-banker  Snagsby,  late  of  Omaha  (he  was  a 
Colonel  now),  also  decided  to  clean  up.  Having 
been  a  banker,  he  was  unusually  shrewd  and  con- 
servative. In  a  few  days  after  deciding,  he  had 
converted  two-thirds  of  his  property  into  cash. 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  the  great  General  Tiddlebug, 
meeting  him  on  the  street  a  few  days  afterward, 
"  I  told  you  you  were  throwing  away  that  corner 
that  you  sold  for  fifty  thousand  dollars.  It  has 
just  sold  for  fifty-five,  and  will  bring  seventy-five 
before  Christmas." 

"  Got  anything  else  to  give  away  ?"  said  Colonel 
Gote  to  him  the  next  day.     "  I  am  offered  fifteen 


132  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

per  cent  advance  on  that  piece  I  bought  of  you 
the  other  day.  I'll  double  my  money  on  it  before 
spring." 

"  I  shan't  kick  if  you  make  a  million  on  it.  I 
did  well  enough  on  it.  I  am  cleaning  up,  and  any 
man  that  don't  do  the  same  is  a  fool,"  replied 
Colonel  Snagsby  stiffly. 

"Ye-e-e-s?"  said  the  other  colonel  with  a  sneer- 
ing rising  inflection.  "  Permit  me  to  return  the 
compliment.  Any  man  who  sells  anything  before 
spring  is  a  fool." 

Ex-banker  Snagsby,  or  rather  Colonel  Snagsby, 
had  gone  scarce  half  a  block  farther  when  Major 
Dinkenbat  pulled  him  one  side,  and  in  a  half 
whisper  said  : 

"  Say,  what  are  you  doing  ?  Do  stop  this  talk 
about  cleaning  up.  You  are  injuring  prices  and 
throwing  away  your  property  too.  All  the  boys 
are  talking  about  it.  You  could  get  a  good  deal 
more  by  taking  only  one-third  or  a  quarter  cash. 
Talking  the  way  you  do  and  selling  for  cash  only, 
you  hurt  the  market." 

"  I  am  going  to  sit  down  for  awhile  on  a  little 
cold  coin.  You  may  yet  find  it  a  comfortable 
thing  to  sit  on,  yourself." 


GETTING  OUT,  1 33 

The  Major  looked  at  him  a  moment  with  pity- 
ing air,  and  said  : 

"  I  wouldn't  swap  what  I've  got  in  this  town 
for  a  chunk  of  solid  gold  twenty  feet  square,  with 
the  whole  United  States  army  and  forty  bulldogs 
to  guard  it  for  me." 

Two  years  later  the  Colonel  happened  to  dine 
with  the  Major  on  his  homestead  claim  in  the 
mountains.  The  Colonel  said  he  did  not  eat 
beans,  so  the  Major  told  him  to  help  himself  to 
the  mustard. 

"  I  w^onder  now  if  I  haven't  been  a  trifle  too 
fast,"  said  the  Colonel  this  time,  as  he  left  the 
Major.  "  I  guess  not,  though.  It  is  better  to  be 
safe  than  to  take  the  chances  on  making  more." 
This  is  the  way  many  conservative  bankers  reason 
when  there  is  no  chance  to  make  anything.  It  is 
very  easy  to  be  conservative  when  there  is  no 
boom.  "  When  the  sea  is  calm,  all  boats  alike  show 
mastership  in  floating."  While  thus  formulating 
abstract  principles  that  may  govern  the  average 
conservative  banker  in  common  times,  he  strolled 
into  the  affectionate  embrace  of  a  little  near- 
sighted chap  who  poked  his  nose  in  his  face  and 
sputtered  out  as  fast  as  he  could  rattle. 

"  Know  that  piece  'longside  the  one  you  sold 


134  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DAY. 

the  Other  day  on  Mackerel  Street  ?  Get  it  for  you 
for  fifty  thousand.  Only  quarter  cash.  Divvy 
commish  with  you.  Seventy  thousand  refused 
yesterday  for  the  piece  you  sold  'longside  of  it. 
Biggest  buy  in  town." 

"Confound  it.  I  knew  I  ought  to  have  held 
that  a  while  longer.  Well,  let  it  go.  There  is 
nothing  like  being  safe,"  said  Snagsby,  as  he 
walked  on. 

A  singular  feature  of  such  times  is  how  so  many 
who  are  in  the  whirl,  amid  all  the  rush  and  bustle, 
know  one  another's  movements — what  each  one  is 
buying,  what  he  is  offering,  what  he  is  refusing, 
and  what  he  thinks  of  the  situation.  So  it  was 
not  strange  that  when  Snagsby  came  down  the 
street  the  next  morning,  Judge  Snapper,  another 
millionaire,  should  ask  him  : 

"  Is  it  possible  that  you  sold  that  corner  on 
Banana  Street  for  twenty  thousand  ?  I  told  some 
one  it  could  not  be  so." 

The  ex-banker  was  about  to  say  yes,  but  a  sud- 
den feeling  of  shame  overtook  him.  In  his  mind's 
eye  he  saw  a  man  deliberately  throwing  away  five 
or  ten  thousand  dollars.  And  the  situation  was 
not  at  all  relieved  by  seeing  Judge  Snapper  eying 


GETTING  OUT.  1 35 

him  from  head  to  foot,  as  who  should  say,  "  What 
manner  of  man  is  this,  anyway  ?" 

"  I  beHeve  I  did  sell  that  a  little  too  cheap.  I 
wish  I  had  it  back,"  said  Snagsby  to  himself  as  he 
walked  on. 

"  Been  looking  for  you  all  over,"  said  a  man 
rushing  up  to  him  an  hour  later.  "  Got  a  most 
exquisite  snap  for  you.  Not  another  such  bargain 
on  the  planet.  Only  fifteen  hundred  a  foot  for  a 
corner  on  northwest  of  Pineapple  and  Orange, 

"  Don't  want  it.     I  have  quit  buying." 

"  Q-u-i-t  b-u-y-i-n-g  ?"  said  the  man  with  eyes 
expanded  in  astonishment,  and  stepping  back  a 
pace  or  two  to  survey  the  Colonel  from  head  to 
foot  more  thoroughly  than  the  Judge  had  just 
done.  "Q-u-i-t  b-u-y-i-n-g?  May  I  be  eternally 
scorched  if  that  isn't  strange  talk.  Why,  it  is 
the  very  time  of  all  times  to  commence." 

"  Don't  want  it,"  said  Snagsby  savagely,  as  he 
moved  on. 

"  I  say,"  he  added,  turning  around  before  he  had 
gone  five  steps  farther,  "  half  cash  will  fetch  that 
considerably  cheaper,  won't  it  ?" 

"  W-e-1-1  n-o-w,  it — might  be  shaded  a  trifle,  I 
suppose,  when  I  come  to  think  about  it.  The  fact 
is,  the  owner's  wife  is  whining  to  get  back  East 


136  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DAY. 

to  her  mammy.  He  thinks  the  world  of  her, 
and  might  sacrifice  a  httle  to  please  her,"  said  the 
man  after  some  meditation. 

"Well,  I  don't  believe  I  want  it,"  said  Snagsby, 
turning  around  to  go. 

But  before  he  had  taken  three  steps  he  wheeled 
half  around  again,  and  said,  "  By  the  way,  what 
will  all  cash  take  it  in  for?" 

"  O — h  !  W-e-1-1  n-o-w,  that  makes  a  differ- 
ence.    The  price  might  be  shaded  a  bit  for  cash." 

"  You  can  throw  off  the  commission  too,  can't 
you  ?" 

"  W-e-1-1  n-o-w.  That's  asking  too  much.  I — 
ah — might  divvy  with  you,  though,  to  make  a 
trade." 

"  Well,  I  ain't  particularly  stuck  on  it  anyhow," 
said  Snagsby,  walking  off,  vowing  that  he  would 
buy  nothing  more  at  any  price.  But  he  could  not 
resist  the  temptation  to  see  the  man  the  same 
afternoon,  and  play  around  the  subject  just  to  see 
how  cheap  he  could  get  it.  It  was  in  truth  a  fine 
piece  of  property,  and  was  well  worth  the  price 
asked  for  it — that  is,  it  would  be  when  the  town 
had  five  or  six  times  the  jDopulation  it  then  had. 
During  the  night  he  allowed  his  fancy  to  play 
over  it,  and  several  times  he  imagined  it  was  his. 


GETTING  OUT,  137 

And  before  the  next  sun  rode  the  western  slope 
of  blue  it  was  his. 

And  thus  one  after  another,  dozens  of  those 
who  had  swum  ashore  and  shaken  the  water  off 
were  drawn  again  into  the  vortex.  The  tempta- 
tion was  one  that  no  man  can  tell  whether  he  can 
stand  until  he  tries  it.  The  more  one  examined 
the  situation  the  more  ridiculous  it  seemed  to  be 
content  with  a  few  thousand,  when  at  one  swoop 
one  could  just  as  well  make  a  fortune.  To  tell 
any  one  that  ten  thousand  was  a  fortune  for  the 
average  mortal,  and  that  the  chance  to  make  it 
out  of  nothing  in  a  year  was  one  that  does  not 
occur  to  one  out  of  a  thousand  in  a  lifetime,  was 
only  to  insult  him.  Even  to  one  who  never  before 
had  fifty  dollars  ahead  in  the  world,  ten  thousand 
seemed  pitiably  contemptible  now.  He  heard 
rich  and  successful  men  say  every  day  that  this 
boom  was  different  from  all  others,  that  it  had 
such  different  conditions  that  it  could  never  stop, 
that  it  almost  took  away  one's  breath  to  think  of 
the  danger  one  had  run  in  even  thinking  of  sell- 
ing before  the  grand  rush  of  the  Universe  set  in. 

Nor  was  it  such  an  easy  matter  to  swim  out  of 
the  main  current  and  keep  near  shore.  Hundreds 
thought  of  it  and  turned  their  heads  that  way,  but 


I3B  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DAY. 

when  it  came  to  making  even  the  first  bold  stroke 
they  weakened  and  drifted  back  into  the  whirl 
again. 

Mr.  Snififins,  for  instance,  was  a  good  lawyer  in 
good  practice,  and  a  man  of  far  more  than  ordi- 
nary shrewdness.  He  had  invested  in  real  estate 
all  the  profits  of  his  business,  and  all  the  money 
he  could  borrow  of  the  banks.  On  the  basis  on 
which  all  such  estimates  were  now  made  he  was 
worth  half  a  million,  and  he  could  have  sold  out 
in  forty-eight  hours  for  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  in  money.  Of  course  the  whole  country 
could  not  have  sold  out  for  any  such  proportion 
of  people's  estimated  wealth,  for  there  was  not 
money  enough  in  circulation  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi to  have  paid  for  it  all.  But  any  one  person 
could  in  almost  one  day  have  sold  for  one-third  or 
two-fifths  of  his  estimated  wealth.  And  almost 
all  those  who  were  in  debt  could  in  the  summer 
of  1887  have  sold  enough  to  have  cleared  the  rest 
of  their  holdings. 

Lawyer  Snififins  felt  that  he  had  a  fortune  as- 
sured, and  ought  to  put  it  beyond  the  reach  of 
disagreeable  possibilities.  His  calculations  on  the 
future  might  be  mistaken.  At  the  same  time  it 
was  the  last  time  in  the  world  to  make  a  mistake. 


GETTING  OUT.  139 

Such  chances  to  get  rich  on  nothing  rarely  strike 
any  one  in  a  lifetime,  and  one  must  be  careful 
about  throwing  them  away.  It  is  strange  that 
while  so  many  reasoned  in  this  way,  few  could  see 
that  the  fact  that  such  opportunities  are  so  rare 
is  the  very  reason  why  one  should  make  sure  of  a 
moderate  sum.  And  many  do  reason  in  this  way. 
The  trouble  is  to  know  in  a  boom  what  a  moder- 
ate sum  is.  Lawyer  Sniffins  reasoned  so.  But  to 
him  half  a  million  now  looked  very  moderate 
among  so  many  millionaires,  most  of  whom  had 
made  their  whole  fortune  in  a  year  or  eighteen 
months  when  nothing  looked  half  as  brilliant  as 
everything  now  looked.  In  these  days,  when  it 
takes  so  much  more  money  to  make  a  man  than 
it  used  to  take,  it  is  no  trifling  matter  to  throw 
away  a  quarter  of  a  million  by  a  little  timidity. 
There  was  so  much  doubt  in  the  mind  of  Sniffins 
that  he  concluded  to  consult  some  of  the  leading 
bankers  and  other  wise  men  of  the  town,  for  he 
had  now  been  rich  long  enough  to  appreciate  the 
wisdom  of  other  rich  men,  which  he  never  could 
do  when  poor. 

He  strolled  into  one  of  the  leading  banks  and 
was  met  with  a  beamy  smile  by  the  head  of  the 
bank.     The  banker  rubbed  his  hand  affectionately 


140  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DA  Y. 

between  his  own  hands,  and  inquired  with  deep 
tenderness  of  tone  after  the  health  of  his  very 
good  wife  and  family  ;  for  Mr.  Sniffins'  deposits, 
though  not  distressingly  large,  showed  a  very 
steady  balance,  and  when  he  wanted  money  he 
borrowed  it  at  good  interest,  and  never  troubled 
the  bank  with  overdrafts. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  the  situation  ?  How 
long  is  it  going  to  last  ?  I  am  thinking  of  clean- 
ing up  so  as  to  be  on  the  safe  side,"  said  Mr. 
Sniffins. 

"  Well,"  said  the  banker,  with  the  ponderous 
gravity  of  utterance  becoming  the  wisdom  of 
wealth, "  I  can't  fully  agree  with  those  who  think 
it  is  going  to  last  forever.  But  I  am  satisfied 
that  the  top  is  still  a  long  way  off.  I  am  holding 
everything  I  have,  and  I  see  no  special  cause  for 
doing  otherwise.  Of  course  I  would  not  advise 
any  one  to  buy  what  he  cannot  pay  for ;  but  I  see 
no  reason  for  sacrificing  anything,  and  to  sell  be- 
fore winter  is  certainly  to  sacrifice  some." 

This  bit  of  wisdom  was  cut  suddenly  short  by 
the  arrival  of  two  Eastern  capitalists,  who  came  in 
to  consult  the  banker  about  investments.  They 
represented  a  class  of  capitalists  unusually  shrewd. 
The  majority  of  them  could  hardly  wait  to  eat 


GETTING  OUT.  I4I 

before  buying  something.  But  a  shrewd  minority 
always  consulted  a  leading  banker  before  buying, 
thinking  that  a  successful  banker  knows  all  about 
Southern  California,  when  in  fact  his  knowledge 
of  the  land  and  the  true  basis  of  its  prosperity  is 
generally  in  inverse  proportion  to  the  magnitude 
of  his  bank. 

The  next  banker  Mr.  Snififins  called  on,  like  the 
last  one,  meant  to  be  honest  in  his  opinions,  but 
as  he  was  himself  speculating  he  did  not  want  the 
market  broken  by  too  much  "  cleaning  up."  Snif- 
fins  did  not  deposit  in  this  bank,  but  the  banker 
considering  the  possibility  of  his  doing  so  some 
day,  allowed  a  peach-and-creamy  smile  to  develop 
itself. 

"  Money  has  never  before  come  in  so  fast  as  it 
is  coming  now,"  said  the  banker,  rubbing  his  own 
hands  and  quite  forgetting  about  the  health  of 
Lawyer  Snififins'  family.  "  We  are  now  building 
new  vaults  to  hold  our  increasing  deposits,"  he  con- 
tinued, giving  Lawyer  S.  to  understand  that  his 
patronage  was  not  essential  to  the  success  of  the 
bank.  "  I  have  made  two  millions  in  the  last  two 
years  and  am  making  it  now  faster  than  ever." 

"  How  much  of  it  have  you  in  cash  ?"  inquired 
the  lawyer. 


142  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

"  O,  I  keep  very  little  of  it  in  cash,  of  course. 
Money  doesn't  increase  in  value  like  property." 

"  Don't  you  think  it  would  be  well  to  hang  up  a 
slice  where  the  cats  can't  get  at  it  ?" 

"  Certainly,  certainly;  but  it  isn't  time  yet.  I 
expect  to  clean  up  and  get  everything  ready  for 
a  big  smash.  But  you  see  the  winter  travel  hasn't 
even  begun  yet.  About  February  there  will  be  an 
amount  of  people  and  money  here  that  will  eclipse 
everything  we  have  yet  seen." 

As  Lawyer  Sniflfins  went  out  he  met  on  the 
corner,  arrayed  in  spotless  garb,  with  teeth  shining 
in  a  chronic  smile  that  almost  dimmed  the  sparkle 
of  his  diamond  ring  and  breastpin,  one  of  the  great 
millionaires  of  the  town — General  Nubbins.  Before 
the  boom  he  was  only  plain  *'  Cap"  Nubbins,  and 
nobody  asked  his  opinion  on  anything  connected 
with  making  money,  though  he  was  a  fair  judge  of 
the  weight  of  a  steer.  But  now  Snififins  could  not 
resist  the  temptation  to  ask  him  whether  he  were 
buying  or  selling. 

The  picturesque  face  of  the  General  changed  on 
the  instant.  A  cloud  of  indignant  surprise  over- 
spread the  smiling  landscape. 

"  Buying,  Sir,  of  course,"  he  said,  stepping  back 
a  pace  or  two  and  surveying  the  rash  mortal  who 


GETTING  OUT.  143 

had  asked  the  question.  "  It  is  madness  to  sell 
anything  now — stark  madness.,  sir."  And  taking 
hold  of  the  lappels  of  his  coat  and  drumming  on 
his  breast  with  his  fingers  he  leaned  back  upon  one 
leg,  an  imposing  monument  of  wisdom. 

Even  after  one  had  firmly  resolved  to  sell,  it 
was  no  easy  matter  to  keep  the  resolution.  Dr. 
Podly,  for  instance,  had  been  back  East  for  a  few 
weeks  closing  up  some  old  business  and  found 
that  all  the  papers  were  now  abusing  California, 
sneering  at  the  boom,  advising  people  to  keep 
away,  and  publishing  all  manner  of  absurd  stuff 
from  disappointed  parties  who  had  been  ill-treated 
at  some  overcrowded  hotel,  or  overcharged  at 
some  lodging-house,  or  who  found  that  their  little 
hoard  would  not  buy  within  the  limits  of  some 
established  city  a  farm  that  could  be  at  once  cut 
into  thousand-dollar  lots.  The  doctor  saw  abun- 
dant evidence  of  a  coming  reaction  and  hurried 
back,  intending  to  sell  at  once.  But  when  he 
went  upon  the  street  and  saw  how  the  town  had 
grown  in  his  short  absence,  how  everything  was 
selling  faster  and  at  higher  prices  than  ever,  he 
hesitated.  That  very  day  the  first  Pullman  ex- 
cursion of  the  season  arrived,  and  discharged  upon 
the  crazy  town  several   car-loads   of    "  first-class 


144  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  V. 

travel," — "  first-class  travel,"  meaning  more  money 
and  airs  with  no  more  brains  than  ordinary  travel. 
The  "  first-class"  soon  mingled  with  the  crowd, 
rushing  here  and  there  to  buy,  and  the  richer  any 
one  of  them  appeared,  the  more  crazy  he  seemed, 
A  new  town-site  thrown  on  the  market  this  day 
with  the  express  purpose  of  catching  this  crowd 
made  a  finer  catch  of  gudgeons  than  anything  yet 
offered,  and  the  "  first-class"  jumped  at  the  bare 
hook  in  such  reckless  manner  that  it  set  the  fisher- 
men themselves  more  crazy  than  ever.  Another 
excursion  was  due  in  two  weeks,  and  such  excur- 
sions were  to  run  all  winter.  The  temptation  to 
make  a  few  dollars  more  simply  by  waiting  a  few 
days  was  too  strong  for  the  doctor.  He  saw  the 
danger  clearly  enough,  and  resolved  to  escape  it. 
But  next  week  would  surely  be  time  enough,  and 
when  next  week  came  it  seemed  so  easy  to  get 
more  by  waiting  a  few  days  that  he  could  not 
resist  the  temptation  to  let  prices  rise  just  a  little 
bit  higher. 


THE   COLLAPSE.  14$ 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE  COLLAPSE. 

Like  a  thief  in  the  night  the  decline  came  on. 
None  suspected  the  day  of  its  coming  less  than 
those  whose  experience  in  other  booms  told  them 
precisely  where  the  top  of  this  one  was,  or  those 
who  knew  that  all  other  booms  were  very  uncer- 
tain, but  saw  entirely  different  conditions  in  this 
one. 

"Isn't  it  a  trifle  dull  this  week?"  said  Major 
Peach  the  first  week  in  January,  1888,  to  General 
Snoodle,  the  owner  of  Wildcat  Park.  The  Gen- 
eral twirled  his  long  goatee  several  times  around 
his  two  fingers,  and  after  a  few  moments'  medita- 
tion replied  : 

"  Well,  you  know  it  is  always  so  about  the  Hol- 
idays. By  the  way,  I  feel  a  trifle  dry.  What  do 
you  say  to  a  cocktail  ?" 

"  Seems  to  me  sales  are  not  quite  as  lively  as 
they  were,"  remarked  Judge  Dumble  to  another 
"  Judge." 


146  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

"  P-o-s-s-i-b-l-y  n-o-t,"  replied  Judge  number  two 
with  a  French  shrug  that  tumbled  the  ashes  of  a 
tvventy-five-cent  cigar  down  his  shirt  bosom. 
*'  This  is  Presidential  year,  you  know,  and  business 
is  always  a  little  dull  in  such  years.  It  strikes  me, 
however,  that  it  is  a  mighty  long  time  between 
drinks  this  morning.  I  have  never  been  so  dry  in 
my  life.     I  believe  it  is  this  cussed  east  wind." 

Whereupon  they  locked  arms  and  disappeared 
through  a  gilded  doorway. 

"  S-a-y !  isn't  it  a  l-e-c-t-l-c  mite  quiet  ?"  said 
Colonel  Foodie  in  a  hoarse  whisper  to  General 
Billick,  the  enterprising  proprietor  of  Badger 
Heights. 

"  Well — you — know — it  is  always  a  little  slow 
at  this  time  of  the  year," said  the  General,  pulling 
the  tip  of  his  nose  meditatively  with  his  thumb 
and  forefinger,  and  looking  furtively  around  to  see 
that  there  were  no  strangers  within  hearing.  "  The 
payment  of  taxes,  you  know,  about  Christmas 
takes  a  lot  of  money  out  of  circulation.  By  the 
way,  isn't  it  about  eleven  o'clock?  Somehow  I 
feel  extra  dry  this  morning." 

"Seems  to  me  it's  letting  up  a  bit,"  said  Com- 
modore Stubbins  to  General  Sneezer,  the  propria 
etor  of  Coyote  Vista. 


THE   COLLAPSE.  1 47 

"  Why,  of  course,"  said  the  General,  seeing  some 
strangers  approaching.  "  Do  you  suppose  anybody 
is  fool  enough  to  sell  now  ?  Ahem  !  I  feel  mighty 
dry  this  morning.  I  believe  it's  this  blasted  east 
wind.  I  am  holding  on  to  everything  I  have. 
Ahem!  Suppose  we  go  over  the  wa:^-  nd  irrigate 
a  bit." 

"  It  looks  as  if  it  were  closing  down.  We  have 
neglected  all  true  development  and  run  prices  out 
of  all  reason.  We  have  killed  the  goose  that  laid 
the  golden  ^gg,  and  will  have  to  stand  the  con- 
sequences," said  the  very  plain  Mr.  Grey  to  the 
prince  of  the  millionaires,  General  Gumpey. 

"  Prices — too — JiigJi  .?"  spluttered  out  the  Gen- 
eral from  the  midst  of  an  orange  in  which  he  was 
delving.  His  face  grew  red,  and  with  gray  eyes 
bulging  with  wrath  he  glared  at  the  audacious 
mortal  known  as  Grey.  "  Prices — too — Jiigh  .?"  he 
exclaimed  again  as  soon  as  he  could  catch  the 
breath  he  had  lost  in  astonishment  and  indigna- 
tion. "  Such  talk  as  that.  Sir,  would  bust  a  boom 
in  the  New  Jerusalem.  If  there  is  anything  the 
matter  it  is  the  talk  of  folks  like  you,  always  talk- 
ing about  back  country  and  water,  and  making 
fools  believe  that  such  things  are  necessary.  But 
thank  Gawd,  Sir,  you  can't  damage  this  bay  or 


148  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DA  Y. 

this  climate.  There  is  nothing  the  matter,  Sir, 
except  that  a  lot  of  fools  have  quit  throwing  away 
their  property,  and  are  holding  it  for  decent  fig- 
ures." 

"/  think  she's  busted,"  interposed  a  roughly 
dressed  man  who  stood  by  listening. 

"  We  can  dispense  with  commentators,  Sir," 
said  the  General,  grandly. 

"  You  dig  me  up  and  you'll  find  me  a  mighty 
uncommon  tater,"  said  the  man,  bristling  up  to 
the  General.  "  I  blowed  in  a  year's  wages  on  your 
town-site,  and  I'd  like  to  see  some  returns  from  it." 

"The  deuce,"  replied  the  General  with  creamy 
smile.  "  Why,  you  must  be  one  of  the  very  chaps 
I've  been  looking  for.  My  agent. disobeyed  my 
orders,  and  sold  some  of  those  lots  too  cheap,  and 
I  have  been  trying  to  find  the  buyers  so  as  to  buy 
it  back.  Let's  go  over  the  way  and  take  a  smile 
first,  and  then  we'll  see  about  it." 

"  I  am  afraid  the  thing  is  shutting  down,"  said 
Judge  Dumpling  to  the  Rev.  Solomon  Sunrise. 

"  Have  no  fears,  my  dear  Sir,"  said  the  Rev. 
Solomon,  laying  his  hand  on  the  other's  shoulder, 
while  a  kind  smile  suffused  his  thoughtful  features. 
"  This  is  only  a  shadow  cast  by  the  lesser  light  in 
the  presence  of  the  greater.     What  we  have  hith- 


THE   COLLAPSE.  1 49 

erto  thought  the  full  blaze  of  prosperity  was  but 
a  tallow-candle  that  now  casts  a  shadow  under 
the  light  of  the  great  rising  sun  of  the  immediate 
future.  Life,  Sir,  is  but  a  cobweb  that  the  broom 
of  death  may  sweep  down  at  any  moment ;  but  our 
glorious  climate,  like  the  eternal  smile  of  Heav — " 

"  Say,"  interrupted  Major  Snooks,  pulling  him 
suddenly  to  one  side,  "  I  have  concluded  to  take 
that  offer  you  made  me  on  that  lot  the  other  day." 

A  dismal  blank  at  once  took  the  place  of  the 
late  hopeful  smile. 

"  I — I — ah — didn't — ah — suppose — that  you — 
would  take  it,  and  ah — have  made  other  disposi- 
tion of  my  funds,"  replied  the  Rev.  Solomon. 

"  Well,  what  will  you  give  for  it  ?" 

"  I — I  don't  feel  quite  prepared  to — ah — invest 
this  morning.  In  fact,  I  haven't  time.  I  have  to 
go  now  to  prepare  my  discourse  for  the  coming 
Sabbath." 

"  Well,  make  me  an  offer  on  it.  You  wanted  it 
pretty  bad  the  other  day,  and  it  is  the  best  buy 
in  town.  My  wife  is  making  a  big  fuss  about  be- 
ing so  far  away  from  her  friends,  and  I'll  have  to 
take  her  back,  I  suppose,  to  please  her.  I'll  have 
to  do  it  even  at  a  big  sacrifice,  or  there'll  be  no 
peace  in  the  house.     What  will  you  give  now  ?" 


150  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DAY. 

"  1 — I  really  am  not  prepared  to  invest  just  now 
in  anything,  and  haven't  time  this  morning.  I 
must  go  to  my  study  at  once."  Whereupon  the 
Rev.  Solomon  Sunrise  vanished  around  the  cor- 
ner, leaving  the  other  man  smelling  a  very  large- 
sized  rat.  He  had  thought  he  was  the  only  one 
who  had  found  out  that  anything  was  the  matter, 
and  had  expected  to  unload  on  the  unsophisticated 
parson. 

For  several  days  the  numerous  generals,  colo- 
nels, majors,  judges,  doctors,  and  professors 
(strange  to  say,  there  were  no  admirals,  and  only 
one  commodore  was  to  be  found)  whom  boom- 
money  had  evolved  from  very  common  clay,  talked 
over  matters  on  the  streets  and  in  the  gilded  bar- 
rooms, whither  an  almost  universal  aridity  of  the 
throat  had  driven  them.  And  the  opinion  was 
quite  universal  that  prospects  were  really  brighter 
than  before,  and  that  the  elements  of  success 
were  only  preparing  for  a  greater  storm  than  ever 
yet  was  dreamed  of. 

Nevertheless  something  was  the  matter,  for 
"  the  boys"  who  had  been  drinking  for  dinner 
French  champagne  at  four  dollars  a  bottle,  or 
rather  California  champagne  at  double  the  price 
for  a  French  label,  to  which  they  had  gradually 


THE    COLLAPSE.  15^ 

ascended  from  bottled  beer  in  a  chromatic  scale, 
which  formed  a  perfect  boom-thermometer,  now 
made  an  alarming  drop  to  California  Champagne 
under  its  own  name,  instead  of  paying  two  dollars 
more  for  a  French  label. 

"  I  tell  you  there  is  something  the  matter,"  said 
Professor  Snipkins  to  Captain  Popsure  ;  "  what  do 
you  think  it  is  ?" 

"  Damfino,"  replied  the  Captain  abstractedly. 

''  Have  there  been  any  sales  lately?" 

"  Damfino." 

"  I  am  afraid  it's  over,  ain't  you  ?" 

"  Damfino." 

"  Our  only  salvation  is  to  stand  by  our  prices. 
If  we  waver  on  them  we  are  gone.  Don't  you 
think  so  ?" 

"  Damfino." 

In  about  a  week  more  the  whole  of  Southern 
California  was  in  about  the  same  state  of  mind  as 
the  Captain.  Eastern  people  were  still  coming  as 
fast  as  ever,  and  the  excursion  trains  arid  hotels 
were  all  crowded.  But  there  was  a  weird  stillness 
in  the  real-estate  market,  and  "  the  boys"  made  an 
alarming  drop  from  Champagne  to  Riesling  with- 
out tarrying  even  a  day  at  the  half-way  house  of 
Sauterne.     It  was  now  conceded  by  the  wise — the 


i§2  AltLLIONAIRES   OF  A    DA  V. 

wise  meaning  those  only  who  had  made  some 
money  on  the  boom — that  there  was  a  lull.  But 
the  wise  also  decided  that  it  was  only  temporary, 
and  that  real  estate  would  move  in  the  spring. 
Meanwhile  they  found  deep  satisfaction  in  blam- 
ing the  impending  Presidential  election,  the  tax 
collector,  the  croakers,  and  everything  except  the 
monstrous  rents,  absurd  prices,  the  neglect  of 
nearly  all  true  development  in  the  greater  part  of 
the  land,  and  the  enormous  waste  in  every  form 
of  nonsense  of  money  that  should  have  been  used 
in  paying  debts  and  developing  latent  resources. 

The  money  market  tightened  almost  on  the  in- 
stant. 

From  every  quarter  of  the  land  the  drain  of 
money  outward  had  been  enormous,  and  had  been 
balanced  only  by  the  immense  amount  constantly 
coming  in.  Almost  from  the  day  this  inflow 
ceased  money  seemed  scarce  eveiywhere,  for  the 
outgo  still  continued.  Not  only  were  vast  sums 
going  out  every  day  for  water-pipe,  railroad-iron, 
cement,  lumber  and  other  material  for  the  great  im- 
provements going  on  in  every  direction,  most  of 
which  material  had  already  been  ordered,  but  thou- 
sands more  were  still  going  out  for  diamonds  and  a 
thousand  other  things  already  bought — things  that 


r///'"    COLLAPSE.  153 

only  increase  the  general  indebtedness  of  a  com- 
munity by  making  those  who  cannot  afford  them 
try  to  imitate  those  who  can.  And  tens  of  thou- 
sands more  were  going  out  for  butter,  eggs,  pork, 
and  even  potatoes  and  other  vegetables  which  the 
luxurious  boomers  thought  it  beneath  the  dignity 
of  millionaires  to  raise.  If  ever  a  country  was 
thoroughly  prepared  for  a  complete  paralysis  for 
ten  or  fifteen  years  it  was  this  country.  That  it 
has  passed  through  the  decline  as  it  has  without  a 
bank  or  well-established  business  house  or  legiti- 
mate business  enterprise  failing,  and  is  prospering 
as  it  is  to-day  in  spite  of  all  the  folly,  is  the  most 
astonishing  fact  in  its  whole  history. 


1 54  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DA  V. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   OVERLOADED. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  which  is  the  more  remark- 
able— the  ease  with  which  one  in  such  a  boom  can 
imagine  one's  self  worth  a  quarter  of  a  million 
made  out  of  almost  nothing,  or  the  ease  with  which 
the  same  person  can  convince  himself  that  he  is 
not  mistaken  about  the  solidity  of  his  fortune. 
The  more  his  better  judgment  questions  it,  and 
the  more  he  debates  the  subject  with  himself, 
the  stronger  his  morbid  judgment  becomes.  The 
standard  of  values  to  which  his  mind  has  uncon- 
sciously grown  during  the  excitement  becomes  for 
a  time  permanent,  and  he  cannot  ignore  it  even  if 
he  would.  Consequently  it  is  not  strange  that  the 
number  of  those  who  at  first  saw  anything  alarm- 
ing in  the  situation  was  very  small.  But  it  was 
strange  that  those  who  felt  the  least  alarm  were 
generally  those  who  knew  nothing  of  the  solid 
foundation  on  which  the  land  rested.  Had  they 
been  correct  in  their  ideas  that  it  was  going  to  be 


THE   OVERLOADED.  155 

a  great  country  anyhow  without  regard  to  re- 
sources, a  country  needing  nothing  but  beauty, 
comfort,  and  cHmate  to  build  it  up,  the  ruin  that 
would  have  followed  would  have  had  no  parallel 
on  earth.  But  it  was  their  good  fortune  to  be 
mistaken,  and  thousands  were  saved  from  beggary 
in  spite  of  themselves. 

Nevertheless  there  were  many  who  took  the 
alarm  and  resolved  to  sell.  But  there  seemed  no 
special  haste  about  it.  One  could  of  course  sell 
at  any  time  at  a  sacrifice  if  necessary,  and  there 
was  no  use  in  doing  so  until  it  was  necessary. 
But  General  Applehead,  who  had  some  two  mil- 
lions worth  of  property  scattered  about  in  various 
towns,  upon  which  he  owed  a  little  matter  of  some 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  awoke  one  morning 
soon  after  the  lull  and  concluded  that  that  little 
two  hundred  thousand  might  not  be  such  a  baga- 
telle as  he  had  so  far  considered  it.  By  the  time 
he  had  finished  dressing  he  concluded  that  he 
would  at  once  sell  off  enough  to  pay  his  debts,  at 
any  rate.  He  was  not  at  all  afraid  of  the  rest, 
but  thought  it  might  be  well  to  pay  off  every- 
thing. 

He  at  once  put  some  of  his  best  property  on 
the  market.     Before  he  realized  it  two  weeks  were 


156  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DAY. 

lost  in  discovering  that  it  would  not  sell  for  ibe 
same  price  he  had  been  offered  for  it  only  three 
weeks  before. 

He  at  once  became  alarmed,  and  said  to  the 
agent,  "  Sell  it  for  five  thousand  less,  then." 

"  What  the  jewce  do  you  want  to  do  that 
faw?"  said  the  agent,  an  ex-broker  from  the 
East,  who  had  made  considerable  here  on  the 
boom.  "  Do  you  want  to  ruin  the  mahket  en- 
tiahly  ?" 

"  Hang  the  market.  Do  as  I  tell  you,  and  be 
mighty  spry  about  it,  too,"  said  the  General. 

"  All  right,"  said  the  agent,  and  lost  two  weeks 
more  in  trying  to  sell  it  for  the  old  price  so  as  to 
pocket  the  difference.  The  next  month  was  lost 
in  trying  several  other  agents  with  about  the 
same  results,  and  the  General  finally  concluded 
that  he  would  have  to  take  the  field  himself. 
He  was  no  mean  hand  at  selling  real  estate  for 
other  people,  but  knew  too  well  that  it  is  often 
unwise  to  try  to  sell  for  yourself.  But  now  he 
felt  compelled  to  do  so,  and  hunted  up  a  rich  old 
chap  from  St,  Paul  who  a  few  weeks  before  had 
made  him  a  large  offer  for  some  of  his  property. 
But  the  old  gentleman  sucked  wisdom  from  the 
head  of  his  cane,  and  stared  at  him  over  his  glasses 


THE    OVERLOADED.  157 

with  a  frosty  eye  that  blighted  the  General's 
hopes  at  once — a  stare  so  strangely  different  from 
the  eager  beam  that  lately  lit  up  the  eye  of  the 
capitalist  while  trying  to  buy  something  for  fifty 
times  what  it  was  worth,  that  the  General  felt 
alarmed.  The  different  shades  of  wisdom  that 
illumine  the  face  of  the  capitalist  during  a  boom 
and  after  one  would  make  a  great  subject  for  a 
painter.  No,  excuse  me — I  am  wrong  again, 
for  no  one  could  be  persuaded  that  it  was  the 
same  face. 

Wherever  the  General  had  anything  to  sell  he 
found  the  same  difficulty.  Everywhere  was  now 
the  smile  of  supreme  wisdom  mingled  with  con- 
tempt for  everything  in  California.  Nor  was  this 
limited  to  the  trash  over  which  they  had  gone 
crazy  a  few  weeks  before,  but  with  the  great 
majority  of  strangers,  who  were  still  as  numerous 
as  ever,  it  was  for  everything  in  the  land.  The 
General  got  a  few  nibbles  at  greatly  reduced 
prices,  but  the  fish  were  so  tender  in  the  mouth 
that  it  was  impossible  to  land  them.  After  about 
two  months  of  hard  work  he  found  himself  in  the 
position  of  the  hunter  who  was  willing  to  let  go 
of  the  bear  at  a  very  reasonable  discount  on  his 
expectations. 


158  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY, 

"Confound  the  plagued  stuff!  how  it  sticks  to 
my  fingers  !  It's  harder  to  let  go  of  than  redhot 
pitch,"  said  the  General  to  himself  one  evening 
after  a  hard  day's  work.  "  But  I  must  sell  some- 
thing mighty  soon,  for  the  banks  are  howling  for 
their  money,  and  when  a  banker  wants  his  money 
in  such  times  he  wants  it  mighty  bad." 

For  nearly  a  week  he  wandered  around  half 
dazed.  The  idea  that  with  so  much  property  he 
could  not  raise  money  enough  to  pay  off  the 
lightest  of  his  obligations  was  something  appalling 
to  a  man  who  had  never  before  seen  the  time 
when  he  could  not  pay  all  his  debts  in  twenty- 
four  hours.  Nor  did  he  find  much  consolation  in 
the  fact  that  a  large  majority  of  the  late  million- 
aires were  being  appalled  in  the  same  way.  They 
had  all  now  discovered  that  pay-day  is  the  swiftest 
anniversary  in  the  year ;  but  not  even  yet  had 
they  discovered  that  real  estate  is  the  slowest  of 
all  commodities  to  handle  at  anything  near  its 
supposed  value  on  a  dead  market.  They  had 
deemed  it  the  safest  of  all  investments  because  it 
cannot  run  away,  forgetting  that  it  is  safe  only  for 
those  who  can  afford  to  hold  it  through  lone;' 
periods  of  decline.  Forgetting  that  it  is  the 
easiest  of  all  things  with  which  to  drug  the  mar- 


THE    OVERLOADED.  159 

ket,  people  are  slow  to  realize  the  fact  of  its 
depreciation.  The  knowledge  is  generally  ac- 
quired at  the  bottom  of  the  ladder,  and  just  a 
trifle  too  late  to  utilize. 

Most  of  the  overloaded  ones  thought  at  first 
they  were  making  great  concessions  in  reducing 
prices  ten  or  fifteen  per  cent.  By  the  time  they 
learned  that  this  reduction  was  not  enough  it  was 
too  late  to  reduce  it  twenty-five  per  cent ;  and  by 
the  time  they  discovered  this,  even  forty  or  fifty 
would  not  have  effected  sales  enough  to  save 
them.  An  immediate  slaughter  of  fondest  ex- 
pectations would  undoubtedly  have  saved  many, 
and  left  them  still  richer  than  they  had  any  right 
to  expect  on  the  amount  invested.  But  it  could 
not  have  saved  the  majority.  A  wholesale  break 
of  prices  to  even  one  fourth  of  what  they  had  been 
for  the  very  best  property  would  have  inspired 
the  buyers  only  with  contempt,  and  made  them 
believe  that  by  waiting  a  little  longer  they  could 
get  it  for  next  to  nothing.  For  the  vast  majority 
of  the  moneyed  strangers  that  were  still  coming 
knew  nothing  of  the  sustaining  power  of  the  land, 
and  thought  that  everything  stood  on  the  same 
basis  as  the  wild-cat  town-lots. 

And  again  the  blaze  of  color  burned  out  along 


l6o  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

the  plains  and  slopes,  somber  tints  robed  hill  and 
dale,  and  the  long,  bright  summer  of  1888  came  on. 

"  She  has  struck  bottom,"  said  some. 

And  in  truth  there  was  some  ground  for  this 
belief,  for  "  the  boys"  were  drinking  water  again 
for  dinner,  having  made  a  sudden  descent  without 
tarrying  a  day  on  claret  either  with  or  without  a 
French  label,  and  stopping  only  a  week  on  bottled 
beer.     But  the  end  was  not  yet. 

Times  became  gradually  duller,  and  those  who 
were  making  the  most  desperate  efforts  to  sell 
anything  at  what  seemed  any  price  within  reason 
were  generally  a  trifle  behind  the  steady  lowering 
of  prices,  which  were  falling  almost  everywhere  in 
spite  of  the  determination  of  people  to  hold  them 
up.  The  slightest  rise  in  the  temperature  of  the 
seller  was  followed  at  once  by  a  corresponding  re- 
duction in  the  pulse  of  the  buyer,  and  a  sale  of 
anything  but  productive  land  outside  the  towns 
was  next  to  impossible.  A  few  succeeded  in  sell- 
ing lots  or  dry  land  at  greatly  reduced  prices,  but 
the  number  of  sales  was  so  slight  compared  with 
the  number  of  the  overloaded  that  they  were  little 
relief  to  the  general  situation. 

He  who  tried  to  find  encouragement  among  the 
real-estate  agents  often  fared  as  Major  Stumpkins 


THE   OVERLOADED.  l6l 

did  one  morning  when  he  went  the  rounds  to  see 
if  there  were  any  prospects  of  a  sale  having  been 
made  of  any  of  the  property  he  had  given  them. 
The  first  agent  was  gazing  idly  at  the  vacant  door- 
way of  his  lately  busy  office. 

"  Well,"  said  the  Major,  "  how  is  real  estate  to- 
day?" 

"  A  Httle  easier  this  morning,  thank  you,"  re- 
plied the  agent. 

The  Major  came  very  near  asking  him  which 
way,  but  caught  himself  in  time. 

"Any  nibbles  to-day?"  he  asked  of  the  next 
one. 

"  Bushels  of  them.  But  they  are  all  on  the 
pole  end  of  the  tackle,"  was  the  answer. 

In  the  next  office  he  found  the  occupant,  a  late 
millionaire,  thumbing  over  his  "  property  book." 
There  was  such  deep  sadness  on  the  man's  face 
as  he  looked  at  the  huge  figures  in  the  right-hand 
column,  reflected  on  the  glorious  past,  and  thought 
of  what  the  lots  would  now  bring,  that  the  Major 
did  not  trouble  him. 

The  next  one  he  found  in  his  office  figuring 
carefully  over  the  stubs  in  his  check-book  to  see 
whether  it  would  be  safe  to  draw  a  check  for  five 


1 62  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  V. 

dollars  to  keep  his  gas  from  being  cut  off  that 
day. 

Another  late  millionaire  he  found  fumbling 
over  with  melancholy  satisfaction  his  returned 
bank  checks  of  the  preceding  year.  He  was 
thinking  of  the  champagne  and  other  good  things 
he  had  enjoyed,  and,  rich  in  the  memory  of  the 
past,  he  smiled  grimly  at  fate,  little  imagining 
that  before  another  year  he  was  doomed  to  wring 
his  bread  from  the  soil  in  the  "  back  country " 
that  in  his  ignorant  pride  he  had  never  seen  or 
even  cared  to  see. 

"Any  sign  of  things  picking  up?"  inquired  the 
Major  of  another  who  stood  leaning  against  a 
lamp-post  in  front  of  his  ofifice  with  hands  up  to 
the  elbows  in  his  empty  pockets. 

"  O  yes.  About  a  couple  of  dozen  families 
picked  up  yesterday  and  lit  out,"  said  the  man 
without  looking  up. 

Of  course  the  news  now  went  abroad  that  the 
boom  was  "  busted  "  and  the  bottom  was  "  clean 
out."  Even  the  ancient  simile  of  the  rats  and  the 
sinking  ship  was  dragged  out  and  made  to  do  full 
duty  far  and  wide  throughout  the  North  and  East. 
And  it  was  in  a  measure  applicable.  Some  of  the 
rats  were  deserting  the  ship ;    and  it  was  equally 


THE    OVERLOADED.  1 63 

true  that  the  said  rats  were  now  doing  about  all 
the  newspaper  correspondence,  and  were  appar- 
ently the  only  correspondents  now  desired  by  the 
press  of  certain  sections. 

A  grand  and  everlasting  crash  had  been  gener- 
ally predicted  for  San  Diego.  That  it  did  not 
happen,  its  people  may  thank,  not  themselves, 
but  that  kind  Providence  that  watches  over  chil- 
dren and  fools,  and  that,  with  not  one  in  a  hundred 
either  caring  or  knowing  anything  about  it,  put  a 
prosperous  population  in  the  country  behind  it 
larger  that  of  the  city  itself.  It  is  a  hard  thing 
perhaps  to  say  of  one's  home,  and  especially  of  a 
home  where  one  has  as  many  good  friends  as  the 
writer  has  in  San  Diego,  but  if  ever  a  people  de- 
served utter  ruin  for  ignoring  and  despising  great 
and  valuable  resources,  it  is  the  people  who  have 
made  San  Diego  the  city  that  it  is  to-day.  For 
years  it  had  been  almost  universally  said  of  San 
Diego,  that  it  had  "  no  back  country  and  no 
water."  Such  was  the  common  belief  throughout 
the  whole  of  the  coast  above  it  and  the  United 
States  generally  wherever  its  name  was  known. 
From  the  north  southward,  every  part  of  Cali- 
fornia has  in  its  turn  been  deemed  a  desert,  fit 
only  for   cattle   ranges.     As  each  county  has   in 


164  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DAY. 

turn  emerged  from  the  desert  state,  it  has  turned 
out  a  fairer  and  richer  garden  than  the  last  place 
that  had  been  found  not  to  be. a  desert.  Yet  eacli 
newly  discovered  garden  in  its  turn  forgot  that  it 
had  once  been  a  desert,  and  never  contemplated 
the  possibility  of  being  mistaken  in  the  same  old 
way  about  the  next  county  on  the  south  of  it. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  boom  San  Diego  County 
was  the  last  link  in  the  chain  of  deserts,  and  occu- 
pied the  same  place  in  public  opinion  that  the  rich 
and  beautiful  counties  of  San  Bernardino,  Los 
Angeles,  and  Orange  had  held  ten  years  before. 
With  a  vast  expanse  of  beautiful  country  and  a 
perfect  climate  for  the  raising  of  the  most  valuable 
products,  with  a  million  acres  of  as  fertile  soil  as 
any  of  the  fruit-growing  sections  of  the  State, 
with  an  abundant  rainfall  in  its  mountains  and  a 
greater  number  of  fine  reservoir  sites  for  the  mak- 
ing of  great  lakes  than  almost  any  other  county 
in  the  state,  it  was  almost  as  unknown  to  the 
world  at  large  as  the  wilds  of  Alaska.  Most  of 
its  arable  lands  are  broken  up  into  tracts  of  a  few 
thousand  acres  each,  and  these  tracts  are  hidden 
one  from  another  by  low  dividing  ridges,  every 
one  of  which  seems  at  first  to  be  the  end  of  all 
the  good  land  there  is.     And  the  whole  is  hidden 


THE   OVERLOADED.  1^5 

Still  more  from  the  common  lines  of  travel  by  the 
broken  edge  of  the  immense  table-land  that 
stretches  some  seventy  miles  along  its  coast  and 
reaches  some  ten  miles  back.  This  table-land, 
though  nearly  all  rich  soil  and  the  largest  body  of 
arable  land  in  the  United  States  that  is  generally 
free  from  frost,  was  almost  uninhabited  because 
of  the  depth  of  the  water  in  the  wells.  Like 
Riverside,  Redlands,  Pasadena,  and  others  of  the 
finest  parts  of  California,  it  had  to  lie  a  desert 
until  water  could  be  brought  upon  it  from  the 
mountains.  But  the  scholars  and  statesmen,  and 
sages  and  capitalists,  and  newspaper  men  and  pro- 
fessional tourists,  took  but  one  look  at  its  ragged 
outer  edge  where  it  breaks  off  to  the  sea-coast, 
and  at  once  passed  full  and  final  judgment  upon 
a  county  larger  than  the  State  in  which  many  of 
them  were  born. 

One  half  the  people  who  have  built  the  hand- 
some buildings  and  made  the  great  improvements 
in  San  Diego  fully  believed  this  old-time  story, 
while  three  fourths  of  the  rest  neither  knew  nor 
cared  whether  it  were  true  or  not.  Thousands  of 
people  had  looked  at  the  city  and  its  bay,  and 
said  :  "  Your  bay  is  perfect,  your  climate  is  beyond 


1 66  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

doubt  the  finest  on  earth  ;  but  if  this  is  all  you 
have,  I  don't  want  any  of  it." 

Yet  they  neither  heard  nor  heeded  such  com- 
mon-sense talk.  Worshiping  their  bay  and  cH- 
mate  with  a  blind  idolatry,  they  really  believed 
that  these  two  alone  would  build  up  a  great 
city  on  the  edge  of  a  desert  with  only  water 
enough  to  wash  in  and  dilute  whisky  with,  and 
with  no  exports  but  sand,  money,  and  empty 
beer  barrels.  Ask  any  citizen  during  the  boom 
whether  San  Diego  had  any  back  country,  and  the 
answer  was  quite  certain  to  be — 

"Why,  certainly,  the  whole  United  States  is 
our  back  country." 

"  But  have  you  nothing  a  little  nearer?" 

"Why,  of  course,  there  is  the  whole  of  Arizona 
and  New  Mexico." 

"  But  I  mean  something  more  immediate." 

"  Certainly,  certainly !  We  have  the  whole  of 
Southern  California." 

"  But  I  mean  something  close  by,  where  one 
can  raise  something." 

"Raise  something?  Why,  it  don't  matter,  my 
dear  Sir,  if  you  can't  raise  a  bean  within  fifty  miles 
of  this  bay." 

The  reader  will  hardly  believe  me  when  I  say 


THE   OVERLOADED.  1 67 

that  during  the  boom  there  were  maps  of  the 
United  States  in  several  of  the  real-estate  offices, 
with  the  words  "  San  Diego's  back  country'' 
pasted  over  the  top  in  large  letters.  Once  in  a 
while  the  visitor  met  a  man  with  sense  enough  to 
see  the  folly  of  such  talk  as  the  above,  and  who 
stoutly  declared  that  there  was  a  fine  back  coun- 
try. But  when  it  came  to  telling  anything  about 
it,  or  where  it  was,  or  how  to  see  it,  he  often 
showed  conclusively  that  he  knew  nothing  about 
it  before  he  had  had  his  mouth  open  two  minutes. 


1 68  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  V. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

TURNING  OVER  A  NEW  LEAF. 

The  people  of  Southern  California  excelled 
the  world  in  the  quickness  with  which  they  turned 
over  a  new  leaf  as  much  as  they  excelled  it  in 
blotting  the  old  one  with  folly.  At  the  first 
symptom  of  decline,  and  before  people  in  the 
cities  had  discovered  anything  serious,  the  people 
in  the  country  went  to  work  as  never  before. 
Not  a  moment  did  they  lose  in  mourning  over 
their  shattered  idols  or  whining  around  the  grave 
of  empty  hopes.  Everywhere  the  plow  was 
aroused  from  its  two  years'  sleep,  and  the  cackle 
of  the  hen  was  heard  on  many  a  lovely  town-site. 
Neglected  orchards  were  put  in  the  best  of  order, 
and  town-lot  stakes  pulled  up  from  hundreds  of 
grass-grown  fields.  The  brush  was  cleared  from 
a  thousand  hill-sides  that  had  never  felt  the  plow, 
and  by  the  first  of  May  1888  the  area  of  culti- 
vated land  was  nearly  fifty  per  cent  larger  than  it 
had  ever  been. 


TUkNING   OVEk  A    NEW  LEAF.  1 69 


*■ 


And  yet  the  general  indebtedness  weighed 
down  the  whole  country  and  made  hard  times 
in  the  midst  of  what  was  really  high  prosperity. 
For  in  spite  of  the  collapse  in  the  speculative 
bubble  new  people  were  coming,  and  outside  of 
the  towns  were  buying  and  settling  as  fast  as  ever. 
In  some  places  the  settlement  was  actually  more 
rapid  than  it  had  been  during  the  height  of  the 
boom,  because  those  who  came  with  the  inten- 
tion of  cultivating  the  soil  now  went  out  to  look 
at  some  of  it,  instead  of  trying  to  double  their 
money  on  town-lots  first. 

But  nearly  all  buying  except  for  actual  use  had 
ceased,  and  those  who  wanted  land  for  use  could 
get  it  at  very  nearly  their  own  figures.  All  ex- 
cept the  irrigated  land;  which  being  cheap  as  a 
plain  business  investment  at  the  highest  price  ever 
asked  for  it,  and  never  having  had  a  boom,  had 
not  only  not  fallen  in  selling  value,  but  in  some 
places,  as  at  Highlands,  Redlands,  and  East  River- 
side, sold  higher  and  faster  than  ever.  But  fully 
two  thirds  of  the  speculators  were  overloaded 
with  dry  land  and  town-lots.  With  a  thousand 
times  more  real  estate  on  the  market  "than  was 
necessary  to  supply  the  demands  of  legitimate 
business,  and  nearly  every  one  crazy  to  sell,  but 


I/O  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A   DAY. 

still  fondly  imagining  that  the  old  values  were 
nearly  correct,  one  can  imagine  the  difficulties  of 
any  one  entangled  in  a  net  of  debt,  with  a  load  of 
unproductive  property  for  his  only  assets.  Vainly 
the  real-estate  agents  posted  their  bulletin-boards 
with  long  lists  of  town  property,  with  the  word 
"snaps"  at  the  head.  Even  the  common  addition 
of  the  word  "soft"  did  not  help  the  matter.  Peo- 
ple now  were  not  looking  for  "  soft  snaps,"  but  for 
something  that  did  not  depend  for  its  value  on 
the  chances  of  selling  to  some  one  else  in  sixty 
days. 

And  so  the  summer  of  1888  passed  away.  There 
was  in  the  cities  a  distressing  amount  of  statu  quo, 
and  the  state  of  affairs  grew  rapidly  no  better. 
Though  the  towns  were  everywhere  losing  their 
floating  population  brought  in  by  the  boom,  the 
number  of  inhabitants  to  the  dollar  was  still  pain- 
fully too  great.  Could  our  economic  writers  have 
studied  these  times,  they  could  have  learned  that 
something  besides  taxes  and  tariffs  and  a  single- 
standard  of  money  may  cause  distress.  It  is 
possible  that  the  steady  increase  of  general  in- 
debtedness, caused  by  extravagance  and  the  anxi- 
ety to  get  rich  enough  to  ape  other  rich  people, 
is  a  far  greater  factor  than  is  commonly  supposed. 


TURNING   OVER  A    NeW  LEAF.  I /I 

Yet  before  winter  came  it  was  evident  that  there 
would  be  no  such  crash  as  would  naturally  be  ex- 
pected in  the  reaction  from  such  long-continued 
foil}',  waste,  and  extravagance.  Even  before  the 
next  summer  was  spent  it  was  noticed  that  money 
was  no  scarcer  than  in  the  winter  shortly  after 
the  decline  began.  In  some  mysterious  way  the 
immense  amount  still  going  daily  out  was  being 
replaced.  The  sneering  wise  men  who  came  from 
the  North  and  East  to  laugh  at  the  wreck  or 
gather  up  the  fragments  at  their  own  price  stood 
agape  with  wonder  when  they  found  that  no 
property  was  put  under  the  hammer  to  sell  for 
what  it  would  bring  in  cash  ;  that  almost  every 
improvement  begun  during  the  boom  was  being 
finished  ;  that  new  houses  and  stores  better  than 
any  yet  built  were  rising  in  all  the  larger  cities 
and  established  centers  of  business  ;  and,  above 
all,  that  outside  of  the  towns  the  whole  country 
was  filling  with  new  settlers  more  rapidly  than 
ever. 

Those  only  could  explain  this  who  for  years 
had  watched  the  growth  of  Southern  California, 
and  knew  the  basis  on  which  it  rested.  A  few  of 
these  had  all  along  predicted  that  there  would  be 
no  "  grand  smash,"  but  only  a  steady  settling  to 


ty2  MtLLIOi\'AlRES   OF  A   DAY. 

the  business  foundation  on  which  people  should 
have  kept  the  boom — the  foundation  on  which  it 
started.  And  so  it  turned  out.  Although  the 
crowding  and  jostling  at  the  real-estate  ofifices 
were  gone,  people  had  by  no  means  stopped  com- 
ing to  Southern  Cahfornia.  Only  the  speculators 
and  old  grannies,  who  are  afraid  to  buy  anything 
on  their  own  judgment  and  have  to  wait  for  lead- 
ers, were  scared. 

Nor  were  people  leaving  to  any  great  extent. 
Much  of  the  floating  population  necessarily  went 
away  because  it  should  never  have  come.  But  of 
the  many  who  left  the  cities  fully  one  half  sought 
the  country,  and  made  their  first  acquaintance 
with  Mother  Earth.  Many  more  should  have 
gone,  but  remained  in  the  towns  awaiting  the 
return  of  the  boom,  and  adding  by  their  gloomy 
looks  to  the  general  depression. 

However  empty  may  have  been  the  apparent 
basis  seen  only  by  the  superficial  glance  of  the 
tourist  or  crazy  speculator,  an  excitement  lasting 
so  long,  extending  over  so  great  an  area  of  both 
town  and  country,  and  bringing  in  so  large  a  pro- 
portion of  wealthy  and  permanent  settlers,  must 
have  had  a  solid  foundation.  Behind  all  the  non- 
sense lay  the  great  productive  power  of  the  soil. 


TURNING   OVER  A    NEW  LEAF.  1/3 

Though  too  many  ignored  or  forgot  this,  it  was 
steadily  having  its  effect.  Though  too  many 
had  neglected  their  land  or  spoiled  it  with  town- 
lot  stakes,  and  too  many  were  buying  from  others 
what  they  could  raise  even  better  themselves,  the 
amount  of  produce  was  still  very  great.  The  last 
year  of  the  boom,  Riverside  alone,  from  only  four 
thousand  acres  of  land  actually  producing,  received 
a  million  of  dollars  from  its  trees  and  vines. 
The  receipts  of  other  sections  for  fruit — fresh,  can- 
ned, and  dried,  though  not  so  easy  to  ascertain  as 
those  of  Riverside,  were  still  enormous  for  the  acre- 
age ;  while  the  money  received  from  grain,  honey, 
wool,  nuts,  beans,  mines,  and  other  things  mounted 
into  the  millions.  San  Diego  County  itself,  al- 
though almost  unknown,  was  receiving  from  dif- 
ferent products  nearly  a  million  a  year. 

Even  for  those  who  as  yet  made  only  a  living 
from  the  soil,  the  difference  between  the  sustain- 
ing power  of  the  land  here  and  at  their  old  homes 
was  very  great.  The  difference  in  the  cost  of 
going  through  the  winter,  and  in  the  cost  of  house 
and  barn,  and  a  dozen  other  things  in  this  mild 
climate,  enabled  one  even  on  the  unirrigated  lands 
to  hold  one's  farm  and  support  a  family  under 
circumstances  that  would  have  made  it  impossible 


174  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

in  any  Eastern  State.  On  the  irrigated  tracts  the 
making  of  a  good  living  on  only  ten  acres,  since 
the  discovery  of  the  proper  methods  of  irrigation 
and  cultivation,  was  now  so  easy  for  the  laziest 
man,  and  for  the  industrious  man  the  making  of  a 
fine  profit  above  the  living  was  now  so  certain 
since  the  markets  of  the  world  were  buying  all 
the  California  fruit  they  could  get,  that  a  man, 
once  settled  on  such  a  place,  could  not  be  driven 
from  it  by  any  pressure  of  the  times. 

"  Booms  are  detrimental,"  said  the  Reverend 
Solomon  Sunrise  one  day,  when,  after  long  cogita- 
tion over  vain  efforts  to  sell  something,  he  had 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  not  as  rich  as 
he  thought  he  was. 

'•You're  right,"  replied  Major  Dinkenbat. 
"  But  all  the  same  I  would  like  a  whack  at 
another  one  for  about  forty-eight  hours." 

The  Reverend  Solomon  was  right  this  time. 
The  boom  delayed  the  development  of  those 
resources  in  which  that  country  excels  all  other 
lands,  and  which  will  yet  give  it  its  greatest  pros- 
perity. Though  in  a  few  places  like  San  Ber- 
nardino County  and  a  part  of  Los  Angeles  County 
they  were  sensible  enough  to  put  the  strangers' 
money  into  water-works  and  other  solid  improve- 


TURNING   OVER  A    NEW  LEAF.  1/5 

ments,  in  the  greater  part  of  the  country  it  was 
squandered  with  shameful  waste.  Nevertheless 
the  boom  strung  the  land  with  railroad  iron,  ce- 
ment sidewalks,  street-railroads,  sewers,  gas-pipes, 
electric  wires,  and  other  valuable  and  permanent 
improvements.  Everywhere,  amid  the  evidences 
of  waste  and  folly  rose  solidity  that  with  the 
common  pace  of  progress  could  not  have  come  in 
years.  It  added  also  a  permanent  population  of 
over  a  hundred  thousand  people,  all  of  whom 
have  now  settled  down  to  honest  work. 

Meanwhile  there  was  no  such  crackling  of  bones 
as  Eastern  and  Northern  papers  had  predicted,  or 
as  would  have  been  heard  in  an  old  and  crystal- 
lized community.  A  few  creditors  were  merciless, 
and  refused  to  take  back  at  any  price  property  on 
which  they  had  received  a  one-third  payment, 
which  was  more  than  the  whole  could  possibly  be 
worth  in  the  next  ten  years.  But  the  great  ma- 
jority knew  how  it  was  themselves,  and,  looking 
at  the  whole  fabric  of  society  as  a  row  of  bricks 
on  end,  were  disposed  to  do  what  was  fair.  Con- 
sequently liquidation  began  almost  from  the  first 
month  of  the  decline,  and  dozens  were  every  day 
released  from  their  obligations.  Some  received 
a  part  of  what  they  had  bought  equal  to  the  pay- 


1/6  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

merit  they  had  made,  and  got  a  release  for  the  re- 
mainder of  the  debt.  Others  were  released  from 
the  whole  of  it  by  deeding  back  the  property  and 
losing  what  they  had  paid  on  it.  Some  exchanged 
other  property  for  the  unpaid  balance,  while 
some  had  the  balance  remitted  in  consideration  of 
improving  the  land.  In  many  cases  there  \vas  no 
personal  obligation  to  pay  any  more  than  the  sum 
already  paid,  and  the  whole  contract  amounted 
only  to  an  option  on  the  part  of  the  buyer. 

Nevertheless  the  number  of  lame  ducks  and  of 
those  who  had  no  legitimate  business,  but  were 
merely  hanging  around  waiting  for  the  boom  to 
begin  again  (a  thing  in  which  nearly  all  had  the 
utmost  confidence),  was  still  so  great  that  the 
times  were  hard  in  the  midst  of  real  prosperity. 


THE  FALLING  OF   THE  ROSES.  l^J 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE,  FALLING  OF  THE   ROSES. 

Again  from  the  top  of  the  great  dome  of  blue 
the  clarion  tones  of  the  sand-hill  crane  echoed  to 
the  tender  pipe  of  the  little  plover  trotting  over 
the  greensward  below,  the  curlew  were  spinning 
in  bands  along  the  shore,  and  the  snowy  form  of 
the  egret  shone  again  in  the  bright  sun  along  the 
inlets  and  lagoons ;  flocks  of  teal  went  whizzing 
through  the  night,  sea-birds  circled  around  the 
dark  rotunda  that  enclosed  the  top  of  the  electric- 
light  masts,  and  the  winter  of  1888-9  came  on 
with  nearly  every  one  expecting  a  grand  catch  of 
"tenderfeet,"  because  the  elections  were  over  and 
Florida  had  had  the  yellow-fever.  The  stranger 
came  in  fair  numbers,  spent  a  little  money  at  ho- 
tels, barber-shops,  and  saloons,  and  as  usual  went 
away  without  seeing  an37thing  of  California.  For 
the  g-eat  increase  of  grain -fields,  vineyards,  or- 
chards and  vegetable  gardens  he  had  no  eye. 
That  not  a  bank  or  large  business  house  or  legiti- 


178  MTLLIOXAIRES   OF  A    DAY. 

mate  enterprise  of  any  kind  had  failed,  and  that 
outside  the  cities  the  land  was  growing  with  a 
more  substantial  growth  than  ever,  he  never  dis- 
covered. Nearly  all  his  faculties  were  concentrated 
on  some  town-lot  stakes  that  some  goose  had  put 
in  and  had  not  yet  sense  enough  to  pull  up. 

The  great  American  capitalist  was  on  hand  too 
in  considerable  force.  And  oh,  how  smart !  He 
wouldn't  have  bought  anything  the  year  before — 
not  he.  He  knew  all  about  it  now.  As  usual,  he 
took  a  stroll  around  a  few  blocks  in  San  Diego, 
and  decided  that  it  had  no  "  back  country."  He 
basked  on  the  porches  of  the  monster  hotel  at 
Coronado,  and  revised  his  opinion  only  to  become 
more  firmly  convinced  that  his  opinion  was  infal- 
lible. Nevertheless  over  twenty  thousand  people 
were  already  livi-ng  where  back  of  the  city  he  saw 
only  dreamy  hills,  the  plow  was  subduing  a  hun- 
dred thousand  acres  more  than  ever  before,  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  new  vineyard  and  orchard  were 
planting,  and  new  people  were  settling  every  day. 
Even  in  the  counties  adjoining,  where  the  coun- 
try tributary  to  the  cities  is  as  easy  to  see  as  in 
San  Diego  County  it  is  difficult  to  see,  the  tourist 
saw  little  or  nothing  of  the  enormous  increase  in 
the  cultivated  area.     That   the   cash   receipts  of 


THE   FALLING   OF    THE  ROSES.  179 

Riverside  alone  had  increased  a  quarter  of  a  mil- 
lion in  the  year  just  past,  and  that  San  Bernar- 
dino, Santa  Barbara,  Ventura,  Orange,  and  Los 
Angeles  counties  had  almost  double  the  amount  of 
produce  to  sell  that  they  ever  had  before,  and 
were  getting  the  highest  price  for  it,  he  never  dis- 
covered. His  eyes  were  riveted  on  the  Hotel  de 
Boom,  on  some  empty  town-site,  and  not  on  the 
lines  of  green  ten-and-twenty-acre  tracts  that  were 
rapidly  enclosing  it  from  the  outside  where  the 
year  before  there  was  nothing  but  brush  and 
white  stakes, — enclosing  it  so  fast  that  in  two 
years  more  every  sign  of  boom  would  be  covered 
up. 

But  the  contemptuous  wisdom  of  the  tourist 
this  winter  was  a  great  blessing  in  disguise. 
Hundreds  of  those  whose  hearts  ached  because 
he  did  not  buy  are  far  better  off  than  if  he  had 
bought.  For  had  he  bought  even  a  little,  it  would 
have  been  one  general — 

"  Hurrah,  boys!  here  we  go.  Nothing  the  mat- 
ter with  us.  It  v/as  only  the  Presidential  election 
after  all,  as  we  thought  it  was.  We  were  scared 
at  nothing." 

One  more  such  crazy  fit  coming  on  the  top  of 
the  last  would  have  stopped  development  more 


I  So  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

than  ever,  and  plunged  California  in  a  depth  of 
mire  that  it  would  have  taken  years  to  flounder 
out  of.  Ikit  people  gauged  the  situation  at  once, 
saw  that  they  had  to  depend  upon  themselves, 
and  went  squarely  back  to  work.  Half  a  million 
acres  more  that  had  never  felt  the  plow  were  up- 
turned and  planted,  on  the  old  ground  the  plow- 
share sank  deeper  than  ever  before,  and  by  the 
time  the  harvest  of  1889  came  the  land  was  over- 
flowing with  a  surplus. 

Nor  did  the  cities  by  any  means  stop  growing. 
Though  more  were  leaving  than  were  coming, 
those  who  came  came  to  stay,  and  were  able 
to  stay.  Most  of  those  who  went  away  never 
had  any  business  here  except  in  a  boom.  The 
cities  were  all  overcrowded  with  lawyers,  doctors, 
real-estate  agents,  lodging-house -keepers,  saloon- 
keepers, clerks,  book-keepers,  and  small  dealers  in 
tobacco  or  furnishing  goods,  and  all  sorts  of  small 
fry  that  follow  up  a  boom,  with  numbers  of  me- 
chanics and  laborers  brought  in  by  the  rapid 
building  of  the  boom  period.  The  sooner  the 
surplus  of  these  went  away  the  better,  though 
their  going  left  empty  numbers  of  small  houses 
for  the  wise  tourists  to  sneer  at.  But  the  people 
who  now  came  were  of  a  different  class ;  and  two 


THE  FALLING   OF    THE  ROSES.  151 

years  after  the  decline  began  the  school  census  of 
children  between  five  and  seventeen,  and  the 
enrollment  and  attendance  lists  of  the  schools 
showed  that  the  permanent  population  of  the 
cities  was  greater  than  during  the  height  of  the 
boom,  and  in  the  country  very  much  greater. 
About  the  same  proportion  of  wealthy  settlers 
that  had  been  coming  before  the  height  of  the 
boom  continued  coming,  and  the  money  they 
now  brought  in  was  not  wasted  as  before.  Con- 
siderable money  also  came  in  to  loan  from  those 
who  knew  there  was  something  besides  wind 
in  Southern  California,  and  every  dollar  of  it  paid 
several  dollars  of  debt  or  went  into  substantial 
improvement  before  it  finished  its  round. 

Few  cities  ever  improved  as  much  as  Los  An- 
geles, the  metropolis  of  Southern  California,  im- 
proved in  1888  and  1889.  Its  finest  residences 
and  stores,  its  great  street  improvements,  its  per- 
fect systems  of  cable-roads,  were  built  during  those 
years  when  all  the  world  thought — because  the 
country  had  had  a  silly  excitement — that  the  bot- 
tom was  out  of  everything.  In  fact  it  was  mainly 
after  the  decline  began  and  on  a  constantly  falling 
market,  .with  imaginary  fortunes  vanishing  every 
day  in  smoke,  that  Los  Angeles  was  turned  into 


182  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DAY. 

the  beautiful  and  comfortable  cit)-  that  it  now  is 
— one  of  the  richest  and  most  substantial  of  its 
size  in  the  United  States. 

It  was  about  the  same  with  all  the  older  towns 
from  Santa  Barbara  to  San  Diego.  While  nearly 
all  the  boom-towns  that  were  not  still-born  were 
either  very  sick  or  stone  dead,  every  one  of  the 
established  centers  where  there  was  ever  any  rea- 
son for  the  existence  of  a  town  was  about  the 
most  active  corpse  of  its  size  in  the  world. 

And  again  the  clamor  of  the  brant  was  heard 
in  the  sky,  and  the  "scaipe"  of  the  traveling  snipe, 
so  sweet  to  the  sportsman's  ear,  fell  through  the 
shades  of  night ;  again  the  sprigtail  and  canvas- 
back  rode  the  smooth  waters  of  the  lagoon,  the 
willet  whistled  along  the  shores  of  the  bays,  the 
hare  came  out  to  play  along  the  greening  hills, 
and  the  winter  of  1889-90  was  upon  us.  And 
this  time  few  cared  whether  the  stranger  came  or 
not,  for  the  country  had  learned  that  it  must  de- 
pend upon  itself,  that  itself  was  good  enough  to 
depend  upon,  and  it  was  hard  at  work  doing  it. 
The  upturned  acres  were  an  amazing  sight.  Tens 
of  thousands  of  acres  of  heavy  brush  were  cleared 
ofT,  and  far  up  a  thousand  hillsides,  where  no  one 
had  ever  supposed   there  was  a  patch  of  arable 


THE   FALLING   OF    THE  ROSES.  1 83 

land,  the  plow  was  cleaving  dozens  of  acres  of 
the  richest  soil,  that  had  lain  hidden  by  almost 
impenetrable  chaparral.  Grain-fields,  orchards, 
and  vineyards  shone  far  and  near  over  thousands 
of  acres  that  but  a  year  before  seemed  hopelessly 
given  over  to  cobble-stones,  sand,  and  cactus ;  and 
new  houses  rose  day  after  day  upon  land  that  in 
the  height  of  the  boom — when  almost  any  dry 
land  would  sell  for  ten  times  its  true  value — few 
would  have  accepted  as  a  gift. 

To  the  surprise  of  the  stranger,  San  Diego  was 
growing  like  the  other  cities,  with  permanent  and 
better  improvements  than  were  built  during  the 
boom.  A  new  and  complete  cable-road  was  un- 
der way ;  the  best  street  improvements  and  some 
of  its  best  buildings  were  finishing ;  one  of  the  best 
banks  in  the  whole  country  had  been  built  up, 
starting  at  the  time  of  the  decline ;  there  were 
no  business  failures  of  any  but  small  dealers  and 
overstocked  lodging-houses^  etc. ;  and,  though 
the  population  was  much  less  than  many  enthusi- 
astic ones  fondly  believed,  the  permanent  popu- 
lation was  larger  than  it  ever  had  been,  and  the 
city  was  on  a  sounder  basis.  But  to  those  who 
knew  anything  of  the  situation  there  was  nothing 
strange   about    this.     The    city  was   simply  sus- 


184  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAV. 

tained  and  saved  by  the  back  country,  that,  in 
blind  idolatry  of  its  bay  and  climate,  it  had  ignored 
and  despised.  Great  irrigating  works  had  been 
built  on  the  Sweetwater  and  San  Diego  rivers; 
the  Cuyamaca  Railroad  built  to  the  Cajon  Valley; 
San  Diego  County  for  the  first  time  was  raising 
its  own  produce  and  exporting  a  surplus,  while  its 
interior  was  steadily  filling  with  new  people.  The 
people  of  the  city,  too,  had  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  a  back  country  was  at  least  a  handy 
thing  to  have,  especially  since  they  had  it,  and  it 
cost  nothing  more  to  get  it.  During  the  height 
of  the  boom,  when  people  were  at  their  wits' 
ends  to  devise  means  to  waste  their  money  fast 
enough,  scarcely  a  dollar  could  have  been  raised 
to  maintain  an  exhibit  of  the  products  of  the  soil. 
But  after  the  break,  when  many  of  them  hardly 
knew  where  the  next  dollar  was  to  come  from, 
they  got  up  and  maintained  at  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  an  exhibit  that  made  every  one  stare. 
Within  the  first  year  it  had  some  fifty  thousand 
visitors,  and  of  the  lot  the  most  surprised  were 
the  older  residents  of  the  city  itself. 

But  everywhere  the  principal  growth  since  the 
collapse  of  the  boom  was  on  the  lands  that  had 
started  it,  yet  had  never  had  any  inflation  of  val- 


THE  FALLING   OF   THE  ROSES.  1 85 

ues.     Like  the  town-lots,  dry  land  almost  every- 
where had  fallen  in  price  to  a  point  where  any 
one  could  buy  it  for  settlement.     In    fact  there 
were  few  places  during  the  boom  where  any  one 
who  wanted  land  for  immediate  settlement,  and 
not  for  speculation,  could  not  get  it  at  reasonable 
figures,  except  immediately  around  the  cities  and 
in  a  few  other  places.     A  special  bargain  could  al- 
ways have  been  made  by  any  one  who  meant  to 
improve  instead  of  selling  to  some  one  else.     But 
the  irrigated  upland,  to  the  surprise  of  those  who 
know  nothing  of  its  great  productive  power,  has 
ever  since  the  boom  been  selhng  more  rapidly  and 
at  steadily  advancing  prices  to  actual  settlers  than 
during  the  time  of  the  wildest  excitement.     More 
of  it  has  since  then  been  sold  entirely  unimproved 
and  for  cash  to  immediate  settlers  at  from  three 
hundred  to   four  hundred  dollars  an    acre    than 
was  sold  during   the    boom — except    a  little    for 
town-sites — for   two   hundred    and  fifty.     Nor  is 
this  any  whim.     It  is  but  a  continuation  of  the 
rising  values  of  the  last  seven  years.     Such  land 
brings   these    prices  because    he   who    takes   the 
slightest  pains  to  investigate  finds  that  ten  acres 
of  it  will  produce  more  money  than  a  whole  farm 
in  most  of  the  Eastern  States.     No  such  amount 


1 86  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

of  money  to  the  acre  is  taken  in,  in  any  part  of 
the  United  States  outside  of  a  few  points  in 
Florida,  as  is  received  from  these  lands  when 
worked  to  their  full  capacity.  And  no  such 
growth  has  ever  been  seen  outside  of  California 
as  East  Riverside,  Redlands,  Highlands,  and  sev- 
eral other  points  have  been  since  the  breaking  of 
the  boom,  while  some  places  such  as  Chula  Vista 
have  had  their  entire  growth  since  then. 

All  this  improvement,  with  the  vast  increase  of 
produce,  and  the  opening  of  new  markets  in  the 
East,  not  only  for  all  the  fruit  that  can  be  raised, 
but  for  hundreds  of  car-loads  of  spring  vegetables, 
soon  had  its  effect.  By  the  summer  of  1889 
money  was  plenty  in  all  the  banks,  and  to  loan  on 
good  security  was  abundant  everywhere.  The 
rate  of  interest  had  fallen  from  twelve  and  fifteen 
per  cent  to  six  and  nine,  with  the  lender  in  most 
cases  hunting  the  borrower. 

In  numbers  of  cases  money  sent  from  the  East 
had  to  be  returned  because  it  could  not  be  placed 
here  at  higher  interest  than  it  could  be  there. 
Though  making  money  by  one's  wits  has  been 
becoming  steadily  harder,  legitimate  trade  of  all 
kinds  has  been  growing  steadily  better,  because 
weeded  out  to  what  the  country  will  support. 


THE  FALLING   OF    THE   ROSES.  1 8/ 

Yet  all  this  prosperity  brought  no  relief  to 
thousands  who  had  reached  out  too  far,  and  were 
vainly  struggling  to  maintain  themselves,  when 
they  would  have  done  better  had  they  at  once 
surrendered  and  started  life  anew  without  a  dollar, 
but  free  from  debt.  In  one  way  or  another  hun- 
dreds squirmed  out  from  under  the  load  and  saved 
something,  but  the  great  majority  of  the  over- 
loaded had  to  sit  down  with  next  to  nothing, 
and  ponder  the  lesson  that  a  country  must  depend 
for  prosperity  on  resources,  and  that  Southern 
California,  with  all  its  beauty  and  charming  cli- 
mate, with  its  immense  comfort  and  easy  life,  and 
with  all  its  capacity  for  setting  more  people  crazy 
than  any  other  part  of  the  world,  is  no  exception 
to  the  rule.  They  had  to  learn  that  all  such  things 
are  great  advantages,  but  not  necessary  conditions  ; 
and  although  the  climate  in  the  matter  of  produc- 
tion is  the  most  important  business  factor  in  the 
land,  its  true  value  cannot  be  lost  sight  of  with 
impunity. 

Nor  were  the  losses  by  any  means  confined  to 
the  buyers  of  "wild-cat."  The  greater  the  merits 
of  any  place  or  property,  the  more  certain  it  is 
to  be  overdone  in  a  boom.  Prices  are  quite  cer- 
tain to  be  forced  to  a  point  that  no  amount  of 


1 88  MILLIOXAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

merit  will  justify  at  that  time,  whatever  it  may 
in  the  future.  The  moment  they  reach  the  point 
where  there  seems  no  immediate  profit  in  specu- 
lation, all  buying,  except  for  actual  use,  soon 
ceases.  Then  the  buyers  for  speculation  throw 
property  back  upon  the  market,  and  those  who 
have  not  paid  for  it  in  full  are  especially  crazy  to 
sell  so  as  to  get  out.  A  break  is  inevitable  with- 
out regard  to  the  real  merits.  And  so  it  was 
here.  Those  who  confined  their  purchases  to  the 
best  inside  city  property,  but  had  bought  it  on  a 
part  payment,  fared  little  better  than  the  buyers 
of  outside  "  wild-cat." 

Vainly  the  great  majority  of  the  overloaded 
tried  to  sell.  Nearly  all  buying  was  now  limited 
to  productive  acres,  which  were  exactly  Avhat  the 
vast  majority  of  the  speculators  did  not  have. 
Nearly  all  attempts  to  sell  town-lots  failed  when 
it  came  to  closing  a  trade,  the  bu)'er  generally  be- 
coming scared  at  his  own  offer  the  moment  he 
saw  any  danger  of  its  being  accepted.  In  vain 
many  of  the  overloaded  secured  loans  on  their 
best  property.  Not  only  was  interest  high  during 
the  first  year  of  the  decline,  but  there  was  liable 
to  be  a  discount  of  the  first  year's  interest,  a  com- 
mission, an   attorney's   fee,  and  what  not,  to   in- 


THE   FALLING   OF    THE  ROSES.  1 89 

crease  the  profit  of  the  lender.  Instead  of  reduc- 
ing the  load,  all  this  only  heaped  it  higher,  and 
pay-day  came  around  more  swiftly  than  ever. 

One  by  one  the  roses  fell,  and  hundreds  of  faces 
once  abloom  with  joy  faded  gradually  from  the 
streets.  But  the  love  of  California  had  sunk  too 
deep  into  their  souls  to  permit  them  all  to  leave 
it.  They  had  bathed  too  long  in  its  winter  sun- 
shine, lounged  away  too  many  hours  in  the  sea- 
breeze  of  summer,  slept  too  soundly  in  the  cool 
nights,  and  had  too  vivid  recollections  of  thunder- 
storms, cyclones,  and  blizzards  to  return  to  their 
old  homes.  Some  went  up  the  coast  in  search  of 
new  booms,  but  the  majority  sought  the  country 
to  coax  a  living  from  the  soil. 

Some  went  upon  ten-  or  twenty-acre  tracts,  and 
more  than  one  enterprising  owner  of  a  whole 
city  is  to-day  using  for  irrigation  some  of  the 
water  he  intended  for  the  domestic  use  of  its 
myriads  of  future  inhabitants,  and  from  the  single 
ten-acre  tract,  which  is  all  that  remains  to  him  of 
his  once  glorious  prospects,  and  which  he  has  held 
by  the  leniency  of  his  creditors,  is  now  producing 
more  actual  wealth  and  leading  a  far  happier  life 
than  when  he  lay  awake  nights  wondering  what 
he  was  going  to  do  with  his  money. 


IQO  MILLIOXAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

But  many  more,  by  the  time  they  had  to  leave 
the  cities,  had  neither  land  nor  means  with  which 
to  buy  any,  and  had  to  go  farther  back  to  content 
themselves  with  the  fragments  of  pubhc  land  that 
had  escaped  the  diligent  culling  of  the  earlier 
settlers.  Tens  of  thousands  of  acres,  as  good  as 
any,  lay  thus  in  small  scraps  around  the  large 
tracts  already  occupied.  They  were  not  yet  taken, 
partly  because  they  were  in  pieces  too  small  to 
suit  any  but  those  who  must  have  a  home  some- 
where, partly  because  they  looked  so  rough  in 
their  natural  condition  that  they  seemed  worth- 
less to  the  new-comer  who  had  not  taken  the 
trouble  to  see  what  had  been  done  on  the 
same  kind  of  ground  elsewhere,  but  mainly  be- 
cause so  many  pieces  lay  so  concealed  by  heavy 
chaparral  or  surrounding  hills  that  they  either 
escaped  the  eye  or  appeared  too  rough  or  too 
steep. 

Where  the  mountain  side  slept  darkly  blue  in 
the  golden  haze  of  the  streaming  sunshine,  and 
huge  bowlders  of  smooth  granite  glistened  above 
the  dense  green  of  the  chaparral  that  robed  its 
rugged  slope,  there,  upon  ground  that  a  few  years 
ago  was  deemed  fit  only  for  the  home  of  the 
grizzly  bear,  rises  now  the  humble  dwelling  of  the 


THE  FALLING   OF    THE  ROSES.  I9I 

man  who  but  three  short  years  ago  would  not 
have  given  the  world  a  receipt  in  full  for  half  a 
million  in  gold.  And  where,  at  the  mountain's 
feet,  the  river  whirls  its  sparkling  sands  amid 
arcades  of  alder  and  willow — there,  upon  a  few 
acres  of  what  once  appeared  worthless  sand, 
stands  now,  beneath  some  huge  cottonwood  tree, 
the  house  of  the  real-estate  agent  who,  from  com- 
missions alone,  had  made  more  out  of  the  other 
man  than  five  years  before  either  had  hoped  ever 
to  be  worth.  Perched  upon  the  shoulder  of  some 
loftier  hill,  where  lately  the  polished  horns  of  the 
deer  glittered  in  the  rising  sun,  now  looks  down 
upon  the  world  below  the  cabin  of  the  lawyer 
who  gave  up  a  fair  living  back  East  and  came 
here  to  get  rich  on  real  estate.  For  a  few  short 
months  his  soul  expanded  daily  as  the  stunning 
reality  of  a  fortune  grew  upon  him,  and  his  wife's 
bosom  thrilled  and  glowed  with  visions  of  the 
halcyon  days  to  come;  and  now,  with  the  proceeds 
of  the  sale  of  his  library,  he  has  piped  down  the 
water  from  the  spring  where  the  little  green  grove 
of  sycamores  on  the  hillside  above  shows  the  pres- 
ence of  water  all  summer,  and  from  a  few  acres 
of  alfalfa,  with  vegetables  and  a  cow  and  a  few 
dozen  chickens,  he  is  making  the  living  that  his 


192  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DA  Y. 

overcrowded  profession  and  choice  corner  lots 
denied  him.  In  the  little  glade  at  the  base  of  the 
hill,  where  mighty  live-oaks  nod  over  wavy  swells 
of  ground  clad  in  wild-oats,  foxtail,  and  ivy,  where 
the  yelp  of  the  coyote  still  wakes  the  cool  silence 
of  the  nights  and  the  wild-cat  lies  in  the  edge  of 
the  lilac  and  manzanita  to  spring  upon  the  hare 
that  plays  along  its  edges,  is  the  cottage  of  the  man 
who  but  three  years  ago  required  a  special  book- 
keeper and  a  stenographer  and  typewriter  to  at- 
tend to  his  private  accounts  and  correspondence. 
Now  he  finds  rabbits  quite  as  good  as  oysters  im- 
ported from  the  Atlantic  coast  in  the  shell ;  the 
water  from  the  spring  on  the  hillside  tastes  better 
than  champagne  even  with  a  French  label ;  and  he 
has  already  made  more  money  from  his  little  forty 
acres  than  out  of  the  half-dozen  land  corporations 
in  which  he  had  a  controlling  interest  and  "  froze 
out"  his  best  friends  with  assessments  on  the 
stock  so  as  to  get  the  whole.  In  the  dark  ravine 
that  seams  the  adjoining  hills,  where  the  ferns 
lately  formed  a  dense  tangle  over  the  little  brook 
that  gurgled  beneath  them,  and  the  water-cress 
and  wild-celery  hid  the  rippling  water  in  the  more 
open  places,  where  the  wings  of  the  dove  whistled 
all  day  long  as  it  cleft  the  air  on  its  way  to  the 


THE  FALLING   OF    THE  ROSES.  1 93 

water,  where  troops  of  quails  gathered  morning 
and  evening,  there  is  now  the  home  of  the  auc- 
tioneer, whose  commissions  on  a  single  sale  often 
exceeded  the  salary  of  most  men  for  a  whole  year, 
and  who  invested  the  whole  of  them  in  the  same 
property  he  had  sold,  and  at  higher  price  than  even 
his  "  cappers"  had  dared  to  bid  on  it.  Down  on 
the  dreary  hillsides  of  the  lower  levels,  or  along 
the  coast  where  the  springs  and  brooks  have  quite 
disappeared  and  only  the  dark  adenostoma  covers 
some  of  the  hills  with  its  gloomy  shade  of  greenish 
black,  and  not  only  the  live-oak,  but  even  the 
sumac  and  the  heteromeles  are  missing,  there  is 
now  the  little  clearing  of  the  man  who  had  fat- 
tened on  Eastern  goslings  until  he  felt  himself 
qualified  for  a  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  And  even  where  the  cactus  lately  covered 
what  seemed  a  sandy  waste,  where  the  chaparral 
cock  fattened  on  lizards  and  young  snakes,  and 
the  roaring  wings  of  innumerable  quail  shook  the 
air  at  night  as  they  sought  its  thorny  covert  for 
protection  from  the  fox  and  the  wild-cat,  there 
the  man  who  once  owned  land  by  the  square 
league  is  now  more  contented  than  he  was  after 
he  had  sold  out  at  immense  figures  to  the  "ten- 
derfoot," and  is  eating  better  food,  raised  on  a  few 


194  MILLIOXAIRES   OF  A    DA  Y. 

acres,  than  he  ever  ate  when  he  lived  on  his  great 
rancho,  where  it  was  too  much  trouble  to  raise  a 
vegetable,  milk  a  cow,  or  provide  a  hen  with  a  safe 
place  to  roost  and  lay. 


THE  EX-MILLIONAIRE' S   OPINION.         1 95 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE   ex-millionaire's   OPINION. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  those  who  had  to 
eat  their  humble  pie  beneath  their  own  vine  and 
fig-tree  were  those  only  who  never  saw  any 
money  before  the  boom.  There  was  shoddy 
enough  to  turn  any  well-bred  stomach,  but  most 
of  the  tricks  that  would  make  the  angels  weep 
were  played  by  men  who  had  been  for  many 
years  successful  in  various  branches  of  business, 
and  thought  themselves  the  wisest  of  the  wise. 
Many  a  one  of  these  had  to  learn  that  riches  do 
not  necessarily  bring  wisdom,  accepted  the  rebuke 
of  fortune  with  becoming  meekness,  and,  like 
those  more  newly  fledged  in  wealth,  was  happy 
once  more  in  his  newly  found  home. 

Some  sixty  miles  nearly  north  of  San  Diego, 
upon  a  shoulder  of  the  long  mountain  known  as 
Palomar,  and  six  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  ocean  that  shimmered  in  the  far-off  west,  a 
clear,  cold  brook  gurgled  through  a  meadow  of 


196  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

long,  green  grass  between  fern-clad  banks  shaded 
by  dense  alders  and  willows,  beneath  which  the 
tall  tiger-lily  and  the  columbine  nodded  the  long 
summer  through  to  the  purple  lupin  and  the  crim- 
son vetch  ;  then  over  a  long  sheet  of  polished 
rock  it  fell  suddenly  away  amid  thickets  of  wild 
plum,  cherry,  raspberry,  blackberry,  and  currant 
hundreds  of  feet  below  into  a  deep,  dark  canyon 
that  wound  swiftly  downward  to  the  San  Luis 
River  nearly  five  thousand  feet  below.  On  each 
side  the  meadow  sloped  gently  away  into  low 
hills,  upon  which  the  massive  trunk  of  the  sugar 
pine  rivaled  that  of  the  yellow  pine  besides  it, 
while  the  glistening  needles  of  the  silver  fir  rose 
above  even  the  giant  cedars  whose  dark,  broad 
heads  filled  the  spaces  between  the  pines.  Here 
and  there  in  bright  evergreen  robe  stood  the 
mountain  live-oak  full  of  immense  acorns,  and  the 
lower  knolls  leading  into  the  hills  were  green  with 
the  red  oak  and  the  common  live-oak.  The  moun- 
tain pigeon,  with  fan-shaped  tail  and  body  of 
burnished  blue  and  lavender,  and  a  white  collar 
around  its  neck,  darted  through  the  openings 
among  the  trees  or  floated  in  flocks  like  blue  bub- 
bles across  the  depths  of  the  abyss  below.  From 
the  hillsides  above  or  the  canyon  below  came  the 


THE  EX-M I Ll/O.VA IK E' S  OPlXION.         I97 

mellow  tones  of  the  mountain  quail,  and  the  gray 
squirrel  barked  from  the  limb  of  the  tall  pine  or 
trailed  his  bushy  tail  over  the  carpet  of  pine  needles 
below  it.  Woodpeckers  in  pepper-and-salt-colored 
jackets  and  red-barred  wings,  or  brilliant  with  red 
and  white  on  a  background  of  black,  were  squeal- 
ing on  the  trees  in  every  direction;  and  the  moun- 
tain jay,  a  saucy  rogue  in  blue  hood  and  topknot, 
kept  up  an  incessant  racket  everywhere. 

At  the  lower  end  of  this  little  meadow,  upon  a 
low  knoll  that  looked  down  upon  the  vast  coun- 
try on  the  west,  stood,  in  a  grove  of  spreading 
live-oaks,  a  new  log-house.  The  carcass  of  a  big 
deer,  white  and  shining  with  fat,  that  hung  from 
one  of  the  trees  back  of  the  house,  the  smell  of 
wild  honey  that  lingered  around  the  doorway,  and 
the  tinkle  of  the  bell  on  the  cow  in  the  meadow 
were  all  suggestive  of  the  old  backwoods  home, 
where  so  much  comfort  was  had  with  so  small  an 
outlay  of  money.  Its  owner,  General  Milkins,  had 
been  comfortably  rich  for  years  before  coming  to 
California,  but  did  not  have  quite  enough,  and 
during  the  first  year  of  the  boom  had  not  doubled 
his  investments  quite  fast  enough  to  satisfy  his 
aspirations.  He  was  sitting  on  a  rock  on  the  edge 
of  the  ravine,  talking  to  Major  Bluebottle,  who 


198  MILLIO.YAIRES  OF  A    DA  V. 

had  come  to  California  in  the  early  stages  of  the 
boom  with  some  seventy-five  thousand  dollars, 
to.  show  the  natives  how  to  make  money.  The 
Major  lived  in  the  next  little  valley,  which  he  had 
just  taken  up  under  the  homestead  law  ;  but  he 
spent  the  morning  in  contemplating  the  work  to 
be  done  and  resolving  to  set  about  it,  and  by  the 
time  he  had  finished  this  and  decided  to  begin,  it 
was  dinner-time.  Then  he  spent  over  an  hour  in 
smoking,  and  settling  his  dinner ;  and  by  the  time 
that  was  done  and  he  had  again  decided  to  begin 
work  it  was  three  o'clock.  But  why  begin  work 
at  such  a  heathenish  hour  when  the  next  day  was 
sure  to  be  fair,  and  the  next  week  and  the  next 
month  the  same  ?  Thus  he  had  reasoned  every 
day  for  a  week  or  more,  and  closed  the  debate  by 
going  over  to  the  General's  house  to  have  a  smoke 
and  talk  over  old  times. 

The  silvery  strip  that  marked  the  watery  hori- 
zon on  the  distant  west  was  brightening  under 
the  declining  sun  when  the  Major  remarked  : 

"  Tough !  isn't  it,  to  have  to  come  down  the 
way  we  have  ?" 

"  Not  half  as  bad  as  it  might  have  been  if  the 
boom  had  gone  on  a  year  or  two  more  until  all 
the  money  was  owed  to  outsiders  instead  of  at 


THE  ex-milliomairf:s  opinion.       199 

home.  I  think,  considering  the  fools  we  made  of 
ourselves,  that  we  are  in  big  luck,"  said  the  Gen- 
eral. "  The  boys  are  hard  up  for  coin,  of  course  ; 
but  every  one  has  enough  to  eat  and  drink  and 
wear.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  suffering  or  des- 
titution anywhere.  It  would  be  impossible  any- 
how in  California.  The  only  thing  to  suffer  much 
is  pride,  and  I  have  mighty  little  of  that  left.  I 
am  not  kicking  any.  I  made  a  big  fool  of  myself, 
but  nobody  else  is  to  blame.  All  that  I  have 
been  buying  was  stuff  fit  only  to  sell  to  tenderfeet, 
who  wanted  it  only  to  sell  to  other  tenderfeet.  I 
didn't  have  sense  enough  then  to  see  the  folly  of 
it.  But  what  a  piece  of  stupidity  !  For  a  coun- 
try that  can  raise  what  Southern  California  can 
and  in  the  quantities  that  it  can,  and  get  the 
prices  for  its  products  that  it  can,  to  be  making 
itself  dependent  for  its  happiness  on  selling  dry 
land  and  town-lots  to  a  lot  of  crazy  greenhorns  is 
positively  disgraceful.  Every  man  that  has  even 
five  acres  of  good  bearing  orchard  or  vineyard  is 
making  money  now,  while  we  are  scratching  up 
here  for  grub.  Here  the  country  is  walking  off 
with  the  markets  of  the  world,  its  produce  is 
bringing  the  very  top  price  and  the  world  is  cry- 
ing for  more,  and  we  have  been  overlooking  all 


200  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  Y. 

this  and  trying  to  get  rich  by  selling  unproductive 
stuff  to  a  lot  of  asses  years  ahead  of  any  possible 
legitimate  demand  for  it.  For  one,  I  deserve  all 
the  punishment  I  have  got.  And  yet  I  did  only 
what  the  great  majority  did,  and  a  majority  too 
of  people  who  had  ten  times  my  opportunity  to 
know  better." 

The  Major  took  a  long  whiff  of  his  five-cent  pipe, 
and,  deeply  meditating  on  the  twenty-five-cent 
cigars  he  used  to  smoke,  replied  : 

"  Yes ;  single-handed  and  alone,  with  all  the 
world  apparently  against  her,  Southern  California 
has  gone  through  the  decline  with  flying  colors. 
It  is  all  over  now,  and  although  there  is  some 
trash  that  will  fall  still  lower  in  value,  the  whole 
country  is  on  the  up-grade  again.  We  are  about 
the  last  of  the  lame  ducks,  the  liquidation  is  about 
all  over,  and  the  country  is  making  more  money 
out  of  the  ground  to-day  than  any  other  equal 
acreage  in  the  Union.  But  where  do  I  come  in 
on  the  new  racket  ?  That's  the  question.  The 
country  right  now  is  on  the  eve  of  the  biggest 
boom  it  ever  had — a  boom  of  raising  good  stuff 
and  plenty  of  it  to  sell  to  those  who  can't  raise  it. 
The  money  is  pouring  in  already  everywhere 
where  the  orchards  and  vineyards  are  old  enough. 


THE   EX-MTLIJON' AIRE'S   OPINION.         20I 

But  where  am  I  coming  in  ?  is  the  question  that 
worries  me.  It  looks  most  mightily  as  if  the  only 
satisfaction  I  am  to  get  out  of  it  will  be  the  satis- 
faction of  being  proud  of  my  new  home.  That  is 
a  trifle  thin  for  a  steady  diet.  The  country  is  now 
where  it  should  have  kept  itself  all  the  time — inde- 
pendent of  the  '  tenderfoot ; '  for  the  surest  way  to 
command  his  respect  and  make  him  crazy  to  buy 
is  to  show  him  a  country  independent  of  him. 
But  I  am  afraid  that  I  am  dependent  on  him  yet. 
About  all  I  am  adapted  for  is  selling  town-lots  to 
greenhorns.  That's  been  my  business  always, 
and  I  don't  understand  any  other  work.  I  am 
afraid  I  am  going  to  make  a  failure  of  farming, 
and  I  don't  know  anything  about  speculating  in 
outside  property  here.  At  the  foot  of  that  great 
snowy  mountain  in  sight  sixty  or  seventy  miles 
away  there  in  the  north,  you  can  almost  see  a  piece 
of  land  that  would  have  made  me  rich  if  I  had 
known  enough  to  buy  it  when  I  came  here  and 
bring  water  on  it  from  that  long,  deep  canyon  that 
you  see  running  into  the  heart  of  the  mountain. 
The  money  I  then  had  would  have  bought  it  and 
put  the  water  on  it,  and  left  me  considerable  over. 
But  I  hadn't  sense  enough  to  see  it ;  and  because 
the  soil  looked  thin  and  rough,  I  laughed  at  the 


202  MILLIOXAIRES  OF  A    DAY. 

man  and  asked  him  if  he  saw  anything  green  in 
my  eye  when  he  offered  it  to  me  for  one  twentieth 
of  what  it  is  selHng  for  like  hot  cakes  to-day.  It 
is  not  once  in  a  Hfetime  that  such  chances  strike  a 
man  as  I  have  thrown  away  there,  and  I  feel  clear 
out  discouraged.  I  feel  as  if  I  had  lost  my  grip, 
and  never  should  make  anything  again." 

The  General  made  no  answer,  and  both  sat  for 
a  while  in  silent  thought  as  they  looked  down 
upon  the  vast  expanse  of  land  and  sea  before 
them.  All  the  gateways  of  the  long  lines  of  roll- 
ing hills  lay  open,  revealing  the  plains,  valleys,  and 
table-lands  they  so  completely  hide  from  the  eye 
of  the  careless  traveler  along  the  coast.  They 
looked  down  into  long  canj-ons  lying  thousands  of 
feet  below  and  winding  seaward  with  lines  of  green 
timber  in  the  bottoms,  and  away  over  tumbling 
swells  of  hill  and  dale  their  eyes  wandered  to  the 
broad  sweep  of  table-lands  along  the  distant  coast ; 
then  far  into  the  south,  over  intermediate  ranges 
of  rugged  hills,  golden  slopes,  valleys,  and  tree- 
clad  slopes,  to  where  the  mountain  chains  of 
Mexico  were  lost  in  misty  blue.  Far  in  the 
northwest,  over  the  dark  hills  of  Temescal  and 
Santa  Ana,  the  broad  plains  of  Los  Angeles  and 
Orange  counties  faded   in  the  shining  sea,  and  on 


THE    F.X-MILLIO,VA IRE' S   OPINION'.         203 

the  north  the  giant  San  Antonio  stood  guard  over 
the  bright -green  vineyards  and  orchards  of 
Pomona,  Ontario,  Etiwanda,  and  Cucamunga. 
Then  their  vision  roamed  over  the  vast  reach  of 
the  San  Jacinto  plains,  with  the  lakes  of  San 
Jacinto  and  Elsinore  glittering  like  diamonds  on 
the  bosom  of  the  land,  and  then  as  suddenly 
shifted  to  two  bright  spots  in  the  southwest,  where 
Mission  Bay  shone  inside  the  thread  of  land  at 
Pacific  Beach,  and  San  Diego  Bay  beamed  like  a 
silver  shield  within  the  encircling  arm  of  Coronado. 
Then  inland  ranged  their  sight  again,  climbing  the 
steps  of  the  country  from  the  broad  basin  of  El 
Cajon,  green  with  vineyards;  then  a  thousand  feet 
higher  to  the  yellow  stubbles  of  Santa  Maria  ;  then 
a  thousand  more  up  to  the  emerald  meadows  and 
golden  slopes  of  Ballena  ;  another  thousand  up  to 
the  rolling  highlands  of  Mesa  Grande,  green  with 
orchards  of  cherry,  apple,  and  plum  ;  and  then  up 
a  thousand  more  to  where  the  fields  and  orchards 
of  Julian  shone  among  the  timbered  swells  that 
lie  at  the  feet  of  Cuyamaca. 

A  strange  land,  where  the  breeze  never  rests, 
yet  rises  never  in  anger ;  where  all  the  conditions 
of  the  cyclone  seem  present,  yet  cause  nothing 
but  occasional  little  whirls  moving  gently  over  the 


204  MILL/OXA/RKS  OF  A    DA  Y. 

plain  ;  where  the  clouds  gather  as  heavily  as  any- 
where, over  a  land  as  heavily  charged  with  elec- 
tricity as  any,  yet  cause  no  thunder-storms 
worthy  of  the  name.  A  strange  land,  where  all 
the  vegetation  of  the  temperate  zone  and  tender 
plants  from  the  tropics  with  exotics  from  every 
clime  reach  perfection  side  by  side ;  a  land  where 
almost  every  bird  and  animal,  and  tree  and  grass, 
and  flower  and  shrub,  is  different  from  any  of  its 
genus  on  the  Atlantic  coast  :  where  annuals  be- 
come perennials,  herbs  become  shrubs,  and  shrubs 
trees;  a  land  where  trees  and  vines  and  nearly  all 
deep-rooted  plants  stand  green,  and  the  wells 
show  no  sign  of  failing,  and  the  springs  pour  out 
a  steady  stream  through  periods  of  drought  that 
would  kill  all  vegetation  in  any  Eastern  State  and 
dry  up  the  wells  and  sprmgs  in  half  the  time  ;  a 
land  where  nearly  all  rules  of  farming  are  reversed 
— where  the  poorest-looking  soil  needs  only  water 
to  make  vegetation  overleap  the  bounds  of  pro- 
priety, and  where  land  deemed  worthless  to-day 
is  found  the  most  valuable  to-morrow. 

"Well,"  said  the  General,  finall}-,  "the  boom 
will  come  again.  Not  so  wildly  as  before,  but 
perhaps  strong  enough  to  suit  you.  Like  causes 
produce  like  results  ;  and  this  country  sets  a  car- 


THE  EX-MILLIONAIRE'S   OPINION.         205 

tain  proportion  of  people  crazy,  and  always  will 
do  so.  There  will  be  chance  enough  for  you  to 
follow  your  profession  and  sell  lots  again  to 
greenhorns  ;  but  as  for  me,  I  am  quite  sufificiently 
amused,  thank  you.  This  quiet  life  suits  me  first- 
rate  for  a  change.  It  takes  me  back  to  my  early 
days,  when  I  was  raised  in  the  woods  of  Michigan 
and  roamed  them  half  the  time  with  a  rifle,  and 
was  happier  than  I  have  ever  been  since.  I  have 
made  such  a  fool  of  myself  I  don't  dare  trust  my- 
self in  a  boom  again.  I  had  made  enough  money 
to  think  I  was  mighty  smart,  and  had  seen  just 
enough  booms  and  made  enough  on  them  to 
make  me  think  I  knew  all  about  them.  It  is  not 
an  easy  matter  to  get  such  a  start  in  the  world 
again  as  I  had  when  I  came  here  ;  and  if  I  didn't 
have  sense  enough  then  to  keep  what  I  had,  what 
is  the  use  of  trying  again?  The  more  booms  you 
see  the  less  you  know  about  where  the  top  of  the 
next  one  is.  They  change  your  nature,  and  make 
you  think  you  see  different  conditions  in  each  one 
that  will  make  it  impossible  to  collapse.  You  grow 
so  that  you  don't  know  money  when  you  see  it. 
You  think  when  you  start  in  that  you  know  what 
enough  is  and  will  be  satisfied  with  that ;  but  the 
amount  necessary  even  for  a  competency  keeps 


206  MILLIONAIRES  OF  A    DA  V. 

growing  every  day,  and  the  longer  its  lasts  the 
bigger  fool  you  become,  and  the  more  impossible 
it  is  to  get  out  and  stow  away  a  reasonable  sum. 
I  am  done  with  all  ambition.  The  only  prominent 
part  I  will  ever  play  in  this  world  will  be  at  my 
own  funeral.  Life  is  but  a  game  anyhow,  and  he 
beats  it  best  who  plays  for  the  smallest  stakes. 
For  years  I  have  been  playing  for  big  stakes,  and 
when  I  win  it  is  all  staked  on  another  big  play, 
and  I  don't  enjoy  a  cent  of  it.  I  am  more  happy 
right  here  now  with  plenty  of  time  to  read  and 
hunt  than  I  have  been  for  iifteen  years,  and  I 
don't  care  whether  another  boom  comes  or  not, 
or  whether  another  tenderfoot  comes  or  not,  or 
whether  anybody  buys  anything  or  not,  or 
whether  the  country  goes  ahead  or  not." 

The  Major  listened  in  silence  while  a  deeper 
shade  began  to  steal  over  the  hillsides  below  and 
a  crimson  haze  to  flood  the  long  deep  valleys. 
The  air  was  rapidly  cooling,  and  the  mountain 
pigeons  were  drifting  to  roost  across  the  deep 
ravine  beneath  with  the  sun's  last  beams  lighting 
up  their  lavender  backs,  while  with  motionless 
wing  the  dark  form  of  the  great  California  condor 
was  winding  downward  from  the  zenith  in  a  long 
spiral  line.     Bear  Valley  already  slept  in  shade, 


THE   EX-MILLIONAIRES   OPINION.         207 

and  the  light  was  dying  on  the  long  slopes  of 
Escondido  ;  the  great  watery  plain  on  the  west 
had  lost  its  silvery  sheen  and  was  aflame  with  car- 
mine and  gold,  with  the  rugged  outlines  of  the 
islands  of  San  Clemente  and  Santa  Catalina  rising 
like  castles  of  jet  on  either  side ;  and  the  broad 
stream  of  scarlet  shot  landward  over  the  waters  as 
the  sun's  broadening  disk  dipped  to  the  horizon's 
verge.  And  then  as  the  land  below  was  wrapped 
in  a  weird  combination  of  light  and  shade  that 
hid  almost  every  trace  of  civilization  and  brought 
out  all  the  wilder  features  in  a  glow  of  purple  and 
rose,  the  Major  knocked  the  ashes  from  his  pipe, 
and  with  a  long  sigh  said  : 

"  Yes,  we  all  thought  we  were  mighty  smart. 
But  the  only  smart  ones  were  those  that  paid 
their  debts  and  lived  as  they  always  had  before 
until  they  saw  the  game  through.  Every  one  that 
did  that  is  now  away  ahead  of  the  rest.  But 
the  fellows  that  thought  themselves  big  operators 
like  we  did — where  are  the  most  of  them  now  ? 
You  remember  perhaps  in  the  last  years  of  the 
war  how  lots  of  little  country  shopkeepers  thought 
themselves  big  merchants  because  they  were 
making  money  while  prices  were  all  the  time  going 
up  ?     But  when  prices  began  going  down  they  all 


208  MILLIONAIRES   OF  A    DA  V. 

went  to  grass  mighty  quick.  We  were  just  like 
them.  We  thought  ourselves  great  financiers. 
But  we  were  simply  chain-ligJitnitig  on  a  rising 
market." 

"  Worse  than  that,"  replied  the  General,  with 
an  air  of  disgust.  "  We  were  a  lot  of  very  ordi- 
nary toads  whirled  up  by  a  cyclone  until  we  thought 
we  were  eagles  sailing  with  our  own  wings  in  the 
topmost  dome  of  heaven." 


THE   END, 


VAN  DYKE'S  FASCINATING  OUT-DOOR  BOOKS. 


Southern  California: 

Its   Valleys,   Hills,   and  Streams;    Its   Animals, 

Birds,  and  Fishes;  Its  Gardens,  Farms, 

and  Climate. 

Bv  THEO.   S.  VAN   DYKE. 

"  A  keen  and  observant  naturalist." — London  (Eng.)  Morning  Post. 

12mo,  Extra  Cloth,  beveled,         -       .       -       .       $1.50. 


"A  variety  of  topics  are  presented, 
some  of  interest  to  the  pleasure  seekers, 
others  to  those  who  would  find  in  South- 
ern California  means  of  livelihood  or 
health.  We  have  yet  to  read  any  book 
wherein  a  more  careful  and  thorough 
resumd  is  presented  of  the  climate  of 
Southern  California,  a  question  so  vital 
to  invalids.  .  .  Very  beautifully  does 
the  author  describe  the  sequence  of  the 
seasons  in  Southern  California  and  the 
flowers  which  sing  of  these  gradual 
chano-es." — Neiv  York  Times. 

"  \Vithout  question,  the  best  book 
which  has  been  written  on  the  Southern 
Counties  of  California.  ..  May  be  com- 
mended without  any  of  the  usual  reser- 
vations."— San  Francisco  Chronicle. 


"  The  most  truthful  and  interesting 
book  on  the  subject  we  have  yet  seen. 
.  .  Cannot  fail  to  awaken  the  sports- 
man's enthusiasm."— AVw   York  Sun. 

"  May  be  safely  trusted  by  those  in 
search  of  information  on  the  various  as- 
pects of  the  country  indicated  in  the 
title." — London  (Eng.)  Times. 

"  The  result  of  twelve  years'  experi- 
ence in  that  noted  region.  The  author 
has  traversed  it  many  times,  rifie  in 
hand." — Citicinnati  Cojn.  Gazette. 

"A  subdued  enthusiasm  that  has  the 
ring  of  truth  about  it." — Puck. 

"  Reading  it  makes  one  long  at  once 
to  be  away  to  taste  the  delights  of  that 
charming  country."  —  London  (Eng.) 
Graph  ic. 


BY  THE  Same  Author, 

"  An  author  who  is  one  of  the  first  authorities  in  the  sporting  world.'  —Boston 
Gazette. 

The    STILL    HUNTER.      A  Practical  Treatise  on 
Deer-Stalking.     i2mo,  extra  cloth,  beveled,  $2. 

"  The  best,  the  very  best  work  on  deer 
hunting." — Spirit  of  the  Times  (N.  Y.) 

"  Altogether  the  best  and  most  com- 
plete American  book  we  have  yet  seen 
on  any  branch  of  field  sports." — New 
Y'ork  Evening  Post. 


"  It  is  by  far  the  best  book  on  the  sub- 
ject I  have  seen — in  fact,  the  only  really 
good  one." — Sir  Henry  Halford  (Cap- 
tain of  the  English  Rifle  Team),Wistow, 
Leicester,  England. 


The  RIFLE,  ROD,  and  GUN  in  CALIFORNIA. 

A  Sporting  Romance.     i2mo,    extra  cloth,  beveled,  $1.50. 


"A  very  successful  attempt  to  combine 
the  interest  of  a  novel  with  the  more 
practical  features  of  an  authoritative 
work  on  the  hunting  and  fishing  of  a 
country  celebrated  among  sportsmen." 
—  Wilkes'  Spirit  0/ the  Times. 


"  Crisp  and  readable  throughout,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  gives  a  full  and  truth- 
ful technical  account  of  our  Southern 
California  game,  afoot,  afloat,  or  on  the 
v,ring." — Stin  Francisco  Alta   Califor- 


FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT,  New  York. 


'*A  6rainy  littie  •zioCume.''''  —  Providence    Telegram. 

MIDNIGHT  TALKS 
AT  THE  Club. 


Reported  by  AMOS  K.  FISKE. 


Contents: — ''The  Ozul  Party;"  Temperance;  The  Shepherdless 
Sheep;  Sunday  Obxrvance;  Religion;  Political  hnniorality;  Supersti- 
tion and  Worship;  The  Scriptures  as  a  Fetich ;  Irish- Americans;  Moses 
and  the  Prophets;  Ancient  Scriptures ;  Value  of  Human  Evidence; 
Power  of  Personality;  Discussions  Applied;  Usefulness  of  Delusion; 
The  Faith  Defended;  Toleration  and  Enlightenment ;  Comfort  in 
Essential   Truths.  

PRESS    EXTRACTS. 


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multitude  of  subjects  with  a  kindly 
light  of  wit  and  wisdom."— Jno.  Boyle 
O'REiLfcv,  Boston. 

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clusions are  practically  those  of  the 
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York  Herald. 

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brainy  quartette." — Buffalo  Express. 

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delphia. 


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cess."— Brooklyn  Times. 

"-•V  unique  little  volume.  .  .  There 
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— Kansas  City    Tifnes. 

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ful. .  .  There  is  much  humor  in  these 
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in  subjects  of  living  interest." — San 
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are  clever  and  sensible,  and  all  of  the 
'  Talks '  are  so  bright  and  energetic, 
that  this  book  may  well  be  expected  to 
take  the  place  of  the  usual  summer  the- 
ological novel  to  furnish  piazza-chat  for 
the  summer  hotels  and  deck-talk  for  the 
ocean  steamers." — Boston  Herald. 


16mo,  Vellum,  Cloth,  gilt  top,  $1.00, 

Of  Booksellers,  or  mailed  on  receipt  of  pi  ice  by  the  Publishers. 


FORDS,    HOWARD,   &    HULBERT, 

30  Lafayette  I'lace,  New  York, 


••  Will  interest  artists  by  its  peculiar  views,  and  the  inielligeiit  general  reaatr  by 
its  condensed  history,  apt  ideas  of  art,  and  graphic  style." — New  England  Journal 
0/ Education,  Boston. 

Principles  of  Art. 

Part  I. — Art  in  History,  its  causes,  nature,  development,  and 
dififerent  stages  of  progression  ,  Part  II. — Art  in  Theory,  its  aims, 
motives,  and  manner   of  expression. 

By  JOHN  C.  VAN  DYKE,  Librarian,  Sage  Library,  New  Bruns- 
wick, N.  J.;  recently  editor  of  The  Studio,  New  York. 

1  Vol.  12mo,  Vellum  Cloth,  $1.50. 


"  One  of  the  best  popular  works  on 
that  subject,  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted. .  .  .  Devotees  of  the  prevail- 
ing '  realism '  in  art  and  letters  will  find 
in  him  a  keen  opponent." — Boston  Lit- 
erary IVorld. 

The  method  of  the  work  is  exception 
ally  candid  and  luminous.  The  thought 
is  sharply  defined,  earnest,  and  clothed 
in  flexible  and  forcible  English.  Mr. 
Van  Dyke,  while  plainly  enough  a  dili- 
gent reader  and  student  of  the  standard 
writers  on  sesthetics,  is  original,  bold, 
and  strictly  independent." — JVew  York 
Churchman. 

"  Undertakes,  in  the  most  direct  and 
comprehensible  manner, toopenthewon- 
der-world  of  beauty  and  art  to  the  sim- 
plest understand  ing."-C4jVa^yyar«a/. 

"  A  book  that  the  public  which  dis- 
likes art-books  insipid  in  style  and  vague 
in  meaning  will  welcome  as  a  literary 

refreshment His  rapid  survey  of 

the  world's  intellectual  growth  from  the 
earliest  times,  through  Antiquity,  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  the  Renaissance, 
down  to  the  beginning  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  movement,  is  in  its  way 
quite  masterly." — Boston  Hotne Journal. 

"Just  sentiments,  formed  by  careful 
consideration  and  temperately  ex- 
pressed. .  .  .  Not  large  in  dimensions, 
and  yet  holds  the  results  of  a  long  and 
profound  investigation  of  its  subject. 
.  .  .  Thickly  set  with  points  of  interest, 
judiciously  taken  and  intelligently  sus- 
tained."—T/J^  Z)/a/,  Chicago,  III. 

"  Mr.  Van  Dyke  has  brought  a  vast 
amount  of  study,  careful  analysis,  and 
honest  labor  to  the  compilation  of  this 
work.  .  .  .  As  a  rapid,  bright  series  of 
historical  narrations  the  book  is  beyond 
compute  a  perfect  treasury  to  the  stu- 
dent."— Daily  Graphic,  New  York. 

"  A  valuable  addition  to  the  literature 
of  the  subject." — Brooklyn  Daily  Eagle. 

"  A  scientific  study  of  art,  entirely 
apart  from  all  emotional  likes  and  dis- 
likes, is  a  very  useful  thing.     Mr.  Van 


Dyke  goes  at  his  work  in  the  scientific 
spirit,  sweeps  away  many  mistaken  ideas 
in  regard  to  art,  and  discusses  it  in  his- 
tory as  a  language ;  or,  to  put  it  more 
clearly,  simply  an  expression." — Educa- 
tion, Boston. 

"  A  common  sense  work  in  which  the 
subject  is  treated  with  clearness  and 
thorough  knowledge."  —  Cleveland 
Plain  Dealer. 

"The  essay  is  ripe  with  the  fruits  of 
culture." — Boston  Sunday  Globe. 

"In  these  encyclopedic  limes,  when 
it  is  necessary  to  have  some  notion  of 
everything,  and  the  bulk  and  amount  of 
science  is  so  greatly  in  excess  of  indi- 
vidual possibilities,  there  is  need  of  re- 
liable and  compressed  information,  pre- 
pared by  competent  specialists  for  the 
use  of  the  general  public.  Such  a  work 
is  this.  ...  It  is  to  be  recommended  to 
those  forming  public  or  private  Woxii,- 
Ties.'^— Portland,  Me..   Press. 

"The  public  often  finds  art  books  dull 
reading.  This  author  writes  with  ease 
and  knowledge,  and  has  succeeded  in 
making  his  subject  of  interest  to  all  who 
may  read." — Washington  Post. 

"  Will  give  anyone  who  cares  to  pos- 
sess it  a  good  idea  of  the  histor/  and 
principles  of  art  " — Ithaca  Republican. 

■'  A  clear  exposition  of  the  principles 
of  art,  couched  in  the  simplest  language. 
...  It  pays  to  read  a  book  like  this — 
pays  anybody." — Philadelphia  Press. 

"  The  amount  of  interesting  informa- 
tion that  the  book  contains  is  of  itself  a 
justification  for  its  appearance." — The 
Art  Review. 

"  A  careful  perusal  cannot  fail  to  re- 
sult in  obtaining  many  new  and  valua- 
ble ideas,  and  in  adding  vastly  to  one's 
ability  to  comprehend  and  enjoy  works 
of  art." — Milwaukee  Sentinel. 

"  The  work  of  a  strong  pen.  .  .  .  The 
book  is  vigorous,  healthy,  stirs  up  the 
waters,  and  will  do  good." — New  York 
Independent. 


FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT,  New  York. 


THE  ONLY  EXISTING  COMPLETE  BOOK  ON  THE  SUBJECT. 

The  FIELD  OF  HONOR.  ^ 

Beixg  a  Fill,  GRArwic,  and  Comprehensive  History 

OF  DUELLING  AND  DUELLING  SCENES. 

From  the  Introduction  of  the  Judicial  Duel  into  Europe  during  the  Sixth 
Century  up  to  the  time  cf  its  deneral  Debasement  and  Prohibition  ; 
Also  of  the  Rise  and  Prevalence  and  General  Decadence  of  the 
Private   Duel   throughout    the    Civilized    World  ;   and.    also, 
Graphic   and   Elaborate    Descriptions   of  all   the  Noted 
Fatal    Duels  that  have    ever  taken  place  in  Europe 
and  America,  and  of  the  Many  Other  Famous 
Hostile  Meetings  of  Distinguished  Amer- 
icans   and    Europeans    upon    the 
(so-called)  "'  Field  of  Honor." 

By  MAJOR    BEX    C.    TRUMAN, 

AuiAcr  of '"  Campaigning  in  Tennessee"  '^  The  South  after  the  War."  ^'Semi- 
Tropical  Calijornia.      "Tourists'   Illustrated  Guide  to  the  Celebrated 
Summer  anit  Winter  Res  rts  of  Calif ornia  "  "Homes  and  Happi- 
ness in  the  Golden  State  of  Caii/ornia"  Etc.,  Etc. 

Published  by  FORDS,   HOWARD,  &  HULBERT,  27  Park  Place,  N.  Y. 


-Introductory  and  Historical. 

-Duelling  in  France. 
"  England. 

'■  Ireland  and  Scotland. 

"  Other     European 

Countries. 

-Duelling  in  United  States. 

'■  Mexico.  West  Indies, 

Japan,  among  the  Indians,  and 
among  all  other  Nations. 

-Duelling  on  Horseback,  in  Bal- 
loons, at  Sea,  in  Fiction,  on  the 
Stage,  etc.;  Tournaments  and 
Jousts. 

-Duelling  among  Clergymen. 

-Duelling  among  Women. 

-Duelling  in  the  Dark,  by  Moon- 
light, and  by  Candlelight. 

-Noted  European  Duels  (several 
chapters'. 

-Noted  American  Duels  (several 
chapters'. 

-First  and  Last  Fatal  Duels  in 
United  States. 


Foole  and 
Crittenden 
Jackson  and 
S.    Army   and 
Tevis  and 


=3-- 
24.- 
25.- 
26.- 

2s!- 
29.— 


Hamilton  and  Burr. 

Prentias. 
Decatur  and  Barron 

and  Conway. 
Cilley  and  Graves. 

Dickinson. 
Duels    among    U. 

Navy  (   fficers. 
Eroderick  and  lerrj' 

Lippincott. 
All   the    other    noted    California 

Duels. 
Duels  among  American  Journal- 
ists. 
Noted   Duels  in  which   there  was 

no  blood  shed. — Randolph  and 

Clay's,  and  others. 
The  Rarest   Kind  of  Bravery 
Duellists  of  Various  Types. 
Remorse  of  Duellists. 
Notable  Escapes. 
Pathos  and  .Sentiment  of  the  Field. 
Romance  of  Duelling. 
Humors   and   Pleas  mtries  of  the 

Field. 


Every  Lawyer  and  every  .Tonrnalist  must  have  it  as  a  Book  of  Keference. 

Kvery  (ientlenian  slionld  liave  it  in  Ills  IIoiinp. 

No  Army  or  Xavy  Olllccr  slioiilil  be  »i(lioii(  it. 

No  Library  in  the  World  ivill  be  ('oni|ilete  nilhout  it. 

Every  Historical  Student  and  t'lrrlous  ISeadcr  will  want  it. 

5t/j  Pages,  12M0,  Thorougiilv  Indexed,  and  Handso.melv  Bound  in  Scarlet 
English  Cloth.  Bevelled  Boards,  82.00. 


"  Not  only  the  most  comprehensive  book  on  the  subject,  but  is  also  note- 
Worthy  for  the  many  quotations  from  contemporary  accounts  of  famous  duels, 
particularly  those  o' this  country  .  .  .  throughout  intcnsclj' readable,  and  affords 
ample  m:i;2ri.il  for  1  study  ot  human  nature  under  the  most  varied  and  tragic 
circum>i.inc':s.    — /'('.f/<'«  h-.cning  Traveller. 

FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT,  New  York. 


'BooliiQ   of  (Beneral   Ifntcrest, 

PUBLISHED    BY 

FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT, 
30  Lafayette  Place,  New  York. 


Anonymous. 


An  Appeal  to  Pharaoh.     A  Radical  Solution  of  the 
Negro  Problem.     i6mo.     Cloth,  |i. 


"  Audacious,  ingenious.  ...  It 
will  repay  reading.  It  will  provoke 
thought.    — Boston  Traveller. 

"  Written  in  a  fascinatingly  clear 
style  by  some  one  who  has  studied  the 
problem  long  and  carefully,  and  who 
has  clear  convictions  and  the  courage 
of  them.  .  .  .  We  dissent  from  his 
conclusions."  —  Ch?-istian  Unioti. 


"That  it  is  written  by  a  deep  stud- 
ent of  this  problem  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  That  it  will  create  a  profound 
sensation  and  lead  to  wide  discussion 
can  hardly  be  doubted." — Atlanta 
(Ga.)  Constitution. 

"Tellingly  original.  .  .  .  espe- 
cially forcible." — Worcester  Spy. 


Henry  Ward  Beecher. 


Patriotic    Addresses    in    America    and    England 

(1B50-1885).  On  Slavery,  Civil  War  and  the  Development  of 
Civil  Liberty  in  the  United  States.  Edited,  with  a  "  Review  of 
Mr.  Beecher's  Personality  and  Influence  in  Public  Affairs,"  by 
John  R.  Howard.  858pp.,8vo.  With  Portraits.  Cloth,  $2.75; 
clo.  gilt,  $3.25;  half  mor.,  $4.25.     Popular  edition,  $2. 

"A  new  and  valuable  illustration  of 


"  Indispensable  to  those  who  would 
justly  estimate  Mr.  Beecher's  life  and 
labors."— Prof.  R.W.  Ravmoxd,  Ph.D. 

"  No  library  and  no  public  man  should 
be  without  a  copy  of  this  valuable  vol- 
ume.'—Hon.  William  M.  Evarts. 


his  power  as  an  orator,  the  memory  of 
which  a  grateful  nation  ought  not  to 
lose  ;  a  contribution  to  the  history  of 
the  nation  in  its  most  critical  period.'" 
— Ckristian  Union. 


Beecher  as  a  Humorist.  Anecdotes  and  Excerpts 
of  Wit  and  Humor  from  his  works.  Compiled  by  Eleanor  Kirk- 
lOmo,     Vellum  cloth,  $r.oo. 

"  Extracts  which  now  please  the  in- 
tellect, and  now  tickle  the  fancy  into 
merriment,  but  which  never  fail  to 
touch  the  heart  of  some  eternal  truth." 
— Pi  ovicience  Journal. 

Norwood;  or,  Village  Life  in  New  England. 

{New poptilar  edition.)     Cloth,  $1.25. 

It  will  bear  to  be  read  and  re-read  as 
often  as  Dickens'  '  Dombey  '  or  '  David 
Copperfield.'  ''''-Albany  E7'e''g Journal. 


"  Hundreds  of  themes  and  thoughts, 
and  every  one  with  a.  whip-crack  in  it.'" 
—  Texas  Sijtings. 


A  novel 


"  Embodies  more  of  the  high  art  of 
fiction  than  any  half-dozen  of  the  best 
novels  of  the  best  authors  of  the  day. 

Also,  his  Religious  Works — Evolution  and  Religion, 
Sermons,  Lectures  on  Preaching.  Royal  Truths,  Comforting 
Thoughts,  A  Summer  in  England  (lectures  and  sermons,  1886). 


MISCELLA  NEO  US  P  UBLICA  TIONS. 


Alexandre  Bida. 

The  Lovers  of  Provence  {Aucassin  and  Nicolette). 
A  MS.  Romance  of  the  Xllth  Century,  rendered  into  modern 
French  by  Alexandre  Bida.  Translated  into  English  Verse  and 
Prose  by  A.  R.  Macdonough.  Introductory  Note  and  Poem  by 
Edmund  C.  Stedman.  Exquisitely  Illustrated  by  Alexandre 
Bida,  Mary  Hallock  Foote,  W.  Hamilton  Gibson,  and  F. 
DiELMAN.     New  Edition.     i2mo.     Antique  binding,  $1.50. 

"A  delightful  picture  of  mediaeval 
romance,  pure  in  tone,  and  painted 
with  a  delicacy  of  stroke  and  vividness 


of  coloring  obtained   in   few  modern 
compositions.      The   make-up  of    the 


book  is  in  harmony  with  its  charming 
contents." — The  A'ation. 

"  Entirely  unique  and  very  beautiful 
.  .  .  .  — Chicago  Journal.'"' 


William  Cullen  Bryant. 
Family  Library  of  Poetry  and  Song.     Edited  by 

W.  C.  Bryant.  Memorial  Edition.  2000  poems  from  700  au- 
thors— English,  Scottish,  Irish  and  American,  including  transla- 
tions from  ancient  and  modern  langoiages;  600  poems  and  200  au- 
thors not  in  former  editions.  Containing  also  Mr.  Brj'ant's  Intro- 
ductory Essay  on  Poetry,  one  of  his  most  valued  productions ; 
Biography  of  Mr.  Bryant,  by  Gen.  James  Grant  Wilson  ;  Com- 
plete indexes.  Illustrated.  Holiday,  and  Memorial  Subscription 
Editions.      Send  for  circular. 

"  The  most  complete  and  satisfactory 
work  of  the  kind  ever  issued." — New 
York  Tribune. 

"  Nothing  has  ever  approached  it  in 
completeness. '■-.\Vto  York  Eve'^giSIail. 

"  It  is  highly  fitting  that  Mr.  Bryant, 


who  presided  over  American  poetry 
almost  from  its  birth,  should  have  left 
this  collection  as  an  evidence  of  his  in- 
fluence in  forming  the  American  taste 
for  what  is  pure  and  noble."— 0'»ft«- 
nati  Christian  Standard. 


Helen  Campbell. 

A  Sylvan  City.     Philadelphia,  Old  and  New.     Pro- 
fusely Illustrated.     $2  00. 

"  So  beautiful  and  attractive  a  book  I  before  been   issued." — The  Keystone^ 
upon    the   picturesque  localities   and    Philadelphia, 
characters  of  Philadelphia  has  never  | 


The  Easiest  Way  in  Housekeeping  and  Cooking. 

Cloth,  $1.00. 

"  By  all  odds  the  completest  house- 1  price,  it  seems  well  calculated  to  sup- 
hold  '  Cook-book  '  that  has  come  under  |  ply  the  missing  link  in  that  line.'" — Chi- 
our  notice." — New  York  Examiner.      I  cago  Tribune. 

"Admirable    in    matter,    cheap    in  | 

The  Housekeeper's  Year  Book.     Limp  cloth,  50  cts. 


"  Gives  a  sort  of  culinary  almanac 
for  the  year,  with  various  instructions 
for  all  seasons;  pages  for  household  ac- 
ounts.  arranged  week  by  week;  p:\ra- 
graphs  on  marketing  for  the  various 
months;  menus  for  the  table;  useful  in- 


formation regarding  the  day's  work- 
and  at  the  back  a  blank  summary  ana 
outline  for  'household  inventory,' 
'household  hints,'  etc. — Chicagp  Stan- 
da  rd. 


J-VA'DS,  HOWARD,  &-  HULBERT. 


3 


Martin  Warren  Cooke. 

The  Human  Mystery  in  Hamlet.  An  attempt  to 
Say  an  Unsaid  Word:  with  Suggestive  Parallelisms  from  the 
Elder  Poets.  By  the  President  of  the  N.  Y.  State  Bar  Association. 
i6mo.     Vellum  cloth,  gilt  top,  $i.oo. 


"  The  author  believes  he  has  a  theory 
that  will  account  for  all  the  facts,  har- 
monize conflicting  views  as  to  Hamlet's 
'insanity'  or  'feigned  insanity,'  and 
show  that  Shakespeare  drew  much  in- 


spiration from  Greek  and  Roman  class- 
ics, while  ■  bettering  their  instruction.' 
He  certainly  makes  out  an  excellent 
case,  and  has  done  it  with  remarkable 
clearness  and  attractive  interest." 


(Mrs.)  S.  M.  Henry  Davis. 

Norway  Nights  and  Russian  Days.      The  Record 

of  a  Pleasant  Summer  Tour.      ll'i'/Zi  iiiafiy  Ilhistratiotis.     Decor- 
ated cloth,  $1.25;  hf.  calf,  gilt  top,  uncut,  $2.50. 

"Simply  and  entirely  delightful;  "In  form  it  is  a  joy  to  the  eye.  so 
fresh,  breezy,  picturesque,  charmingly  delicate  are  print  and  paper,  with 
written." — New  York  Commercial  Ad-  abundant  illustrations  and  pretty  bind- 
vertiser.  ing." — Tke  Critic,  New  York. 

Sir  Philip  Sidney:  His  Life  and  Times.  Steel 
plates:  Portrait  of  Sidney;  View  of  Penshurst  Castle;  fac-simile 
of  Sidney's  MS.     i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

"Worthy  of  place  as  an  English  I  distinct  and  lasting  than  the  greatest 
classic." — Pittsburgh  Co}nmercial.  \  historians  are  in  the  habit  of  making." 

"Compels  the  reader's  attention,  and     — Christian  Union,  New  York, 
leaves  upon  his  mind  impressions  more  | 

E.  C.  Gardner. 
The    House    that   Jill   Built,    after    Jack's     had 

Proved  a  Failure.     A  book  on  Home  Architecture.     With  Illus- 
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Fanny  Chambers  Gooch. 
Face  to  Face  with  the  Mexicans.     The  Domestic 

Life,  Educational,  Social  and  Business  Ways.  Statesmanship  and 
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ple, as  Seen  and  Studied  by  an  American  Woman  During  Seven 
Years  of  Familiar  Intercourse  with  them.  Large  8vo.,  584  pp. 
200  illustrations  from  original  drawings  and  photographs. 


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Literary  World,  Boston. 

"  A    treasury  of   romance,    legend, 


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Mexico. 


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John  George  Hezekiel. 
Bismarck  :    His   Authentic   Biography,     Including 

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8vo.     Cloth,  §3  50;  half  mor.,  $4.00. 

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ately  called  a  chapter  of  history  with  \  modern  Y.nrop^.^''—  Detroit  Post. 

Harriet  Raymond  Lloyd. 

Life  and  Letters  of  John  H.  Raymond.  Organ- 
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daughter.     8vo.      Steel  Portrait.     Cloth,  beveled,  $2. 50. 

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J  ork  Times. 

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theory  to  practice,  the  working  out  of 
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of  women  where  none  existed,  that 
wise  conservatism  and  intelligent  pro- 
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Henry  C.  McCook,  D.D. 

Tenants  of  an  Old  Farm:  Leaves  from  the  Note- 
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From  Sir  John  Lubbock's  Pre/ace  to        "Would  make  a  charming  present  to 
the  English  Edition.  \  one  of  scientific  tastes."— W(^7/a«4V. 

Jacob  Harris  Patton,  Ph.D. 

Concise  History  of  the  American  People.  Illus- 
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"We  take  great  pleasure  in  com- I  "  Without  doubt  the  best  short  his% 
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complete  and  accurate  history." — New  I  been  published."— 7>ai-//fr'j/«j///«^^, 
York  Observer.  \  N.  Y. 

The  Democratic  Party:  Its  Political   History  and 

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Robert  R.  Raymond. 

Shakespeare  for  the  Young  Folk,  containing  "A 
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William  Osborne  Stoddard. 

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Albion  W.  Tourgee. 
The    Story    of    an    Epoch.       A   Series   of   Novels, 

presenting  American  life,  from  the  rise  of  the  Anti-Slavery  senti- 
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Southern  Califorxi.a.  :  Its  Valleys.  Hills,  and 
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Tullio  di  Suzzara  Verdi.  M.D. 

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Dr.  William  Wagner. 
Epics  and  Romances  of  the  Middle  Ages.    Adapted 

from  the  German.    500  pp.,  8vo.    Numerous  spirited  Illustrations. 

Cloth,  gilt  edges,  $2.00. 

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Major  George  E.  Williams. 

Bullet   and   Shell.     War  as   the   Soldier  saw   it : 
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Grant. 

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